Written questions by Evans.

What steps his Department plans to take to manage existing (a) litigation and (b) other disputes involving NHS England after its abolition.

Ministers and senior Department officials will work with the new executive team at the top of NHS England, led by Sir Jim Mackey, to jointly lead this transformation. As we work to bring the two organisations together, we will ensure that we continue to evaluate impacts of all kinds.

What steps his Department plans to take to communicate changes in relation to the abolition of NHS England to the (a) public and (b) NHS staff.

Ministers and senior Department officials will work with the new executive team at the top of NHS England, led by Sir Jim Mackey, to ensure that the details of the changes are communicated to staff and the public as quickly and clearly as possible.My Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care also appeared in front of the Health and Social Care Committee on 8 April to communicate these plans. The Department is also committed to maintaining an ongoing dialogue with trade unions and partners throughout this period of change, and updating them as often as is possible.

What steps he is taking to maintain (a) transparency and (b) accountability in NHS operations after the abolition of NHS England.

The announcement to bring NHS England into the Department and create a new joint centre will allow the national centre to operate very differently to the current arrangements. The change will drive our reform agenda by removing layers of bureaucracy and empowering leaders within the service, and will end the duplication of work across the organisations. We are committed to transparency throughout this process.

How the abolition of NHS England will impact the management of (a) national and (b) regional NHS budgets.

Ministers and senior Department officials will work with the new executive team at the top of NHS England, led by Sir Jim Mackey, to jointly lead this transformation.It is only right that with such significant reform, we commit to carefully assessing and understanding the potential impacts, as is due process. Evidence from these ongoing assessments will inform our programme as appropriate.

What steps he is taking to ensure that the abolition of NHS England does not lead to a loss of institutional knowledge critical to NHS operations.

Ministers and senior Department officials will work with the new executive team at the top of NHS England, led by Sir Jim Mackey, to jointly lead this transformation.There are talented, dedicated public servants working across the country, and at every level, of NHS England and the Department. The transition team will be working at pace to develop plans for the future to give certainty to those with the talent and skills needed for the future and ensure they are retained.As we work to return many of NHS England’s current functions to the Department, we will ensure that we continue to evaluate impacts of all kinds.As we work through the next steps on merging the two organisations, we will be putting in place plans to ensure there are no risks to patient safety and that critical information and systems are effectively transferred.

With reference to the Spring Statement 2025, whether the abolition of NHS England will be entirely funded by the £150 million included in the transformation fund.

As announced at Spring Statement the government has allocated £150 million for government employee exit schemes. Information can be found in the Spring Statement supporting documentation here:https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/67e3ec2df356a2dc0e39b488/E03274109_HMT_Spring_Statement_Mar_25_Web_Accessible_.pdf. This will be match-funded by a further £150 million from Departments. On 13 March, the Prime Minister announced that NHS England will be brought back into the Department of Health and Social Care to form a new joint centre. Exit schemes will enable delivery of leaner, smarter, more efficient government, whilst delivering savings over the medium term. Departments will bid for funding from this central pot in order to run exit schemes, and therefore the exact details of which Departments will benefit from this and how this will be spent is not yet known.

With reference to the Spring Statement 2025, which Departments will be impacted by the £150 million for Government employee exit schemes.

As announced at Spring Statement the government has allocated £150 million for government employee exit schemes. Information can be found in the Spring Statement supporting documentation here:https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/67e3ec2df356a2dc0e39b488/E03274109_HMT_Spring_Statement_Mar_25_Web_Accessible_.pdf. This will be match-funded by a further £150 million from Departments. Exit schemes will enable delivery of leaner, smarter, more efficient government, whilst delivering savings over the medium term. Departments will bid for funding from this central pot in order to run exit schemes, and therefore the exact details of which departments will benefit from this and how this will be spent is not yet known.

With reference to the Spring Statement 2025, how many redundancies from NHS England will be paid for from the £150 million included in the transformation fund.

As announced at Spring Statement the government has allocated £150 million for government employee exit schemes. Information can be found in the Spring Statement supporting documentation here:https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/67e3ec2df356a2dc0e39b488/E03274109_HMT_Spring_Statement_Mar_25_Web_Accessible_.pdf. This will be match-funded by a further £150 million from Departments. On 13 March, the Prime Minister announced that NHS England will be brought back into the Department of Health and Social Care to form a new joint centre. Exit schemes will enable delivery of leaner, smarter, more efficient government, whilst delivering savings over the medium term. Departments will bid for funding from this central pot in order to run exit schemes, and therefore the exact details of which Departments will benefit from this and how this will be spent is not yet known.

What steps his Department is taking to ensure the effective continuation of existing contracts and agreements currently held by NHS England after it is abolished.

Ministers and senior Department officials will work with the new executive team at the top of NHS England, led by Sir Jim Mackey, to jointly lead this transformation. As we work to bring the two organisations together, we will ensure that we continue to evaluate impacts of all kinds, and will put plans in place to ensure continuity of care.The abolition of NHS England will strip out the unnecessary bureaucracy and cut the duplication that comes from having two organisations doing the same job. We will empower staff to focus on delivering better care for patients, driving productivity up, and getting waiting times down.

What estimate he has made of the savings to the public purse following the abolition of NHS England.

We recognise that there may be some short-term upfront costs as we undertake the integration of NHS England and the Department, but these costs and more will be recouped in future years because of a smaller and leaner centre. By the end of the process, we estimate that these changes will save hundreds of millions of pounds a year, which will be reinvested in frontline services.As we work to return many of NHS England’s current functions to the Department, we will ensure that we continue to evaluate impacts of all kinds.

Pursuant to the Answer of 26 March 2025 to Question 40282 on General Practitioners: Recruitment, what proportion of new GPs employed since July 2024 were not employed through the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme.

Data on the number of recently qualified general practitioners (GPs) for which primary care networks are claiming reimbursement via the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme was published by NHS England on 7 April, and showed that 41% of all new full-time equivalent GPs since July 2024 were not employed through the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme.

With reference to his Written Statement on 27 March 2025, HCWS562, what consultation was undertaken with stakeholders prior to the decision to reduce the proportion of NHS spending on mental health.

For 2025/26, mental health spending is forecast to amount to £15.6 billion. This represents a significant uplift of £320 million in real terms spending on mental health compared to the previous financial year. In addition, integrated care boards are forecast to meet the Mental Health Investment Standard over 2025/26, meaning that local health services will invest a greater share of their budgets into frontline mental health services. The Department continues to engage with a range of stakeholders about future plans for mental health services. No formal impact assessment has been made, as mental health spending is forecast to be almost the same as it was for 2024/25, with a small reduction of just 0.07% in the share of recurrent National Health Service spending for 2025/26. This change is driven by additional investment in the NHS to support elective recovery, and by investment to improve general practice and pharmacy services and meet the rising costs of new medicines and medical devices.

With reference to the Written Statement of 27 March 2025 on Mental Health: Expected Spend for 2025-26, HCWS562, whether he has carried out an impact assessment of reducing the proportion of NHS spending on mental health.

For 2025/26, mental health spending is forecast to amount to £15.6 billion. This represents a significant uplift of £320 million in real terms spending on mental health compared to the previous financial year. In addition, integrated care boards are forecast to meet the Mental Health Investment Standard over 2025/26, meaning that local health services will invest a greater share of their budgets into frontline mental health services. The Department continues to engage with a range of stakeholders about future plans for mental health services. No formal impact assessment has been made, as mental health spending is forecast to be almost the same as it was for 2024/25, with a small reduction of just 0.07% in the share of recurrent National Health Service spending for 2025/26. This change is driven by additional investment in the NHS to support elective recovery, and by investment to improve general practice and pharmacy services and meet the rising costs of new medicines and medical devices.

With reference to the Written Statement of 27 March 2025, HCWS562, on Mental Health: Expected Spend for 2025-26, what data his Department holds on how much funding has been spent on (a) prescribing for mental health, (b) continuing healthcare and (c) routine spend by NHS England on training new mental health staff in the latest period for which data is available.

The following table shows the actual expenditure for 2023/24 and expected expenditure for 2024/25 for prescribing for mental health, mental health within NHS Continuing Healthcare and national mental health capital programmes: 2023/24 actual expenditure (£ million)2024/25 expected expenditure (£ million)Prescribing for mental health449472NHS Continuing Healthcare396438Eradication of mental health dormitories (capital)16070Mental health urgent and emergency care (capital)46Not yet availableSource: NHS England and Department of Health and Social CareNote: Spend on training new mental health staff, capital spend on mental health facilities under the Hospital Upgrades Programme and any local capital schemes is not separately identifiable.

With reference to the Written Statement of 27 March 2025 on Mental Health: Expected Spend for 2025-26, HCWS562, whether he has made an estimate of the potential impact of the £75 million funding on the number of out-of-area placements.

We recognise how important it is that individuals who require mental health inpatient care are treated as close to home as possible.Integrated care boards have published plans to localise inpatient care by 2026-27 under the national commissioning framework for mental health inpatient services, improving both care quality and value for money. To support this, £75 million has been allocated in 2025-26 to assist systems and National Health Service-led Provider Collaboratives in reducing one or more of the following:out of area placements in acute care or psychiatric intensive care units; Mental Health Learning Disability and Autism inpatient rehabilitation placements far from home; and placements outside natural clinical flow in adult forensic medium and low secure services and children and young people’s inpatient services.This investment is expected to lead to a reduction of at least 580 placements which are out of area, far from home, or outside natural clinical flow for adult forensic and children and young people’s mental health inpatient services over the next two years. The funding is expected to result in 15 providers being able to end the practice altogether.Systems have been asked to model the local impact of capital investment on out of area placements activity and spending as part of their submissions to receive capital funding. The figures quoted above are based on the bids recommended for approval and were therefore modelled by the submitting integrated care boards or NHS-led provider collaboratives.

With reference to the Written Statement of 27 March 2025, HCWS562, on Mental Health: Expected Spend for 2025-26, what estimate he has made of the total cost of mental health spending not included in that statement.

The following table shows the actual expenditure for 2023/24 and expected expenditure for 2024/25 for prescribing for mental health, mental health within NHS Continuing Healthcare and national mental health capital programmes: 2023/24 actual expenditure (£ million)2024/25 expected expenditure (£ million)Prescribing for mental health449472NHS Continuing Healthcare396438Eradication of mental health dormitories (capital)16070Mental health urgent and emergency care (capital)46Not yet availableSource: NHS England and Department of Health and Social CareNote: Spend on training new mental health staff, capital spend on mental health facilities under the Hospital Upgrades Programme and any local capital schemes is not separately identifiable.

With reference to the Written Statement of 27 March 2025 on Mental Health: Expected Spend for 2025-26, HCWS562, if he will publish the modelling he used to assess how the £75 million funding will affect the number of out-of-area placements.

We recognise how important it is that individuals who require mental health inpatient care are treated as close to home as possible.Integrated care boards have published plans to localise inpatient care by 2026-27 under the national commissioning framework for mental health inpatient services, improving both care quality and value for money. To support this, £75 million has been allocated in 2025-26 to assist systems and National Health Service-led Provider Collaboratives in reducing one or more of the following:out of area placements in acute care or psychiatric intensive care units; Mental Health Learning Disability and Autism inpatient rehabilitation placements far from home; and placements outside natural clinical flow in adult forensic medium and low secure services and children and young people’s inpatient services.This investment is expected to lead to a reduction of at least 580 placements which are out of area, far from home, or outside natural clinical flow for adult forensic and children and young people’s mental health inpatient services over the next two years. The funding is expected to result in 15 providers being able to end the practice altogether.Systems have been asked to model the local impact of capital investment on out of area placements activity and spending as part of their submissions to receive capital funding. The figures quoted above are based on the bids recommended for approval and were therefore modelled by the submitting integrated care boards or NHS-led provider collaboratives.

What assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the national strategy for autistic children, young people and adults: 2021 to 2026, published in July 2021.

The Department has not currently made an assessment of the effectiveness of the National strategy for autistic children, young people and adults: 2021 to 2026. Lord Darzi’s independent review of the National Health Service, published September 2024, highlighted the severe delays for accessing autism assessments and that demand for assessments for autism has grown significantly in recent years.The House of Lords has established an Autism Act 2009 Committee, which is holding an inquiry to look at the Autism Act 2009 and the autism strategy, and will make recommendations to the Government by 30 November 2025. This will inform the Government’s future approach.

What assessment he has made of the effectiveness of NHS England's Right to Choose policy.

The Government is committed to giving patients greater choice and control over their care. Patients have a legal right to choose where they go for their first appointment, when referred to consultant-led care as an outpatient.Currently, however, less than a quarter of patients recall being offered a choice of provider. The Elective Reform Plan, published in January 2025, sets out the work needed to empower patients with greater choice and control, in order to make informed choices. This includes making the NHS App and the Manage Your Referral website the default routes for patients to choose their provider, and improving the information available to patients to support their decision, such as improved waiting time information.

If his Department will take steps to publish an updated national autism strategy.

The Department has not currently made an assessment of the effectiveness of the National strategy for autistic children, young people and adults: 2021 to 2026. Lord Darzi’s independent review of the National Health Service, published September 2024, highlighted the severe delays for accessing autism assessments and that demand for assessments for autism has grown significantly in recent years.The House of Lords has established an Autism Act 2009 Committee, which is holding an inquiry to look at the Autism Act 2009 and the autism strategy, and will make recommendations to the Government by 30 November 2025. This will inform the Government’s future approach.