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PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Health Services: Private Sector (11 December 2014)

Question Asked

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much of the NHS budget was spent on commissioning private providers in each of the last five years.

Asked by:
Debbie Abrahams (Labour)

Answer

The information requested is provided in the table below:

Year

Spend on independent providers as a % of total NHS revenue spend

2009-10

4.4%

2010-11

4.9%

2011-12

5.3%

2012-13

5.5%

2013-14

6.1%

Independent providers, both for-profit and not-for-profit, have long through successive governments been providing care to National Health Service patients. Under this Government competition between providers of NHS services has been pursued on the basis of competition for quality through a system of fixed national tariffs. Our neutral position on who should provide services is taken to ensure patients receive the best possible services and outcomes. These decisions are taken by the local clinicians, who are best placed to act for the benefit of their patients.


Answered by:
Dr Dan Poulter (Labour)
16 December 2014

Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0.