Select committee: Public Accounts Committee
Conclusion 28
55th Report - Reducing NHS waiting times for elective care
Published 19 Nov 2025
Addressed to HM Treasury
Public Accounts Committee Reducing NHS waiting times for elective care All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
In the September session, NHSE told us that the changes had been very dramatic and that a lot of work had been done very quickly to start to reduce the variation in running costs for ICBs as well as some of the key cost drivers.60 We were told that redundancies at the national level had been thought of and discussed at the outset. However NHSE confirmed that there was still no resolution with HM Treasury on the source of the 54 Qq 37-38 55 C&AG’s Report, para 4.10 56 Q 33 57 C&AG’s Report, para 6 58 Committee of Public Accounts evidence session on 13 March 2024, DHSC Annual Report and Accounts, see Q 9 59 Committee of Public Accounts evidence session on 13 March 2024, DHSC Annual Report and Accounts, see Q 9 and Q13 60 Q 2 15 significant sums that would be required to fund redundancy compensation payments.61 NHSE accepted that the uncertainty over job losses and cuts being faced by ICBs was unsatisfactory.62 We were, however, assured by NHSE that despite their scale, the cuts would be made without any direct implications for service provision.63
From: Public Accounts Committee, 55th Report - Reducing NHS waiting times for elective care (HC 820), 19 November 2025
Government response
Latest Treasury Minutes progress report to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Fifty-fifth Report of Session 2024-26
The government responded to the whole report on 4 June 2026 (deadline 19 January 2026).
Treasury minutes: Government response to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Thirty-fifth report from Session 2024-26
Published 19 January 2026.
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government states that it agrees with the Committee's recommendations, and for most it says the recommendation is already implemented, with target dates for the rest.
- On diagnostic waits, it says the NHS Medium Term Planning Framework requires all systems to achieve the 1% standard for six week waits, with a plan for reaching it "by March 2029".
- On outpatients, it says it is "essential to transform outpatient care" to reach 92% of patients waiting no longer than 18 weeks by March 2029; further details "will be published in due course".
- On digital and data, it sets target dates: January 2026 for a single Planned Care Capital Assurance Board, and April 2026 for programmes to tackle digital maturity gaps, while acknowledging "the system is not where it needs to be".
- On unfunded announcements, it says it "will aim to ensure" announcements come with a delivery and affordability plan "wherever possible and appropriate", and that it will publish an impact assessment for the primary legislation on NHS England's integration into DHSC.