Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the figure of £8,722,000 stated by the Department of Health in its Annual Report and Accounts 2015–16 (HC322) as the amount spent in purchasing services from Independent Sector Providers includes amounts (1) spent by NHS Trusts and NHS Foundation Trusts on such providers, and (2) paid under Private Finance Initiative and Private Finance 2 projects; and, if so, whether they will publish the respective amounts.

The £8.722 million figure in Departmental accounts is the total value of NHS England commissioners’ contracts with private sector providers in 2015-16. This includes all types of secondary care, but not primary or social care. This does not include services contracted between individual trusts or foundation trusts and independent sector providers or any private finance arrangements.