Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2016-02-08.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of whether the intention of NHS Improvement to commission management consultancies to work with turnaround trusts is consistent with their aim to limit the use of such consultancies by NHS organisations.
Lord Prior of Brampton
The guidance for use of management consultancies is set out as part of the spending approvals process. Monitor has published the following guidance for foundation trusts “Consultancy spending approval process: Initial guidance to NHS foundation trusts” with the Trust Development Authority (TDA) publishing similar for NHS trusts “Consultancy spending controls: Initial Guidance to NHS Trusts”. Copies of the guidance are attached.
The guidance is clear that expenditure on management consultancy must demonstrate that the skills and expertise of advisors cannot be delivered through use of existing resources. It is also a requirement that value for money must be demonstrated. This approach is the same for NHS providers, NHS Improvement or any NHS organisation. Therefore we are content NHS Improvement’s approach to managing turnaround programmes is consistent with this requirement.
NHS Improvement ensures that lessons learned from all financial turnaround programmes are taken into account when considering how to handle any financially challenged providers requiring turnaround actions in the future. This includes the use of the best available, most appropriate consultancies with the right blend of skills and experience required to deliver the turnaround programme.
