Select committee: Public Accounts Committee
Conclusion 16
5th Report - NHS financial sustainability
Published 29 Jan 2025
Addressed to HM Treasury
Public Accounts Committee NHS financial sustainability All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
We challenged NHSE on what it would do differently to achieve the ambitious annual productivity improvements it has committed to. NHSE told us annual productivity improvements were currently running at about 1.8% and it was confident that the annual gains that it has committed to of 2.0% could be achieved over the next two years. It contends that the previous two years had been affected by ongoing disruptions such as industrial action, and that further recovery was still possible, particularly through technology-enabled change. One example of such change was the use of large language models to capture notes during GP consultations.27 However, NHSE also continued to feel that some existing productivity improvements are not well measured at present. It felt that metrics, including that of the Office for National Statistics, do not yet fully capture productivity in important areas such as mental health and community services.28 Payment mechanisms that incentivise tackling health inequalities
From: Public Accounts Committee, 5th Report - NHS financial sustainability (HC 350), 29 January 2025
Government response
Latest Treasury Minutes progress report to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Fifth Report of Session 2024-26
The government responded to the whole report on 4 June 2026.
Treasury minutes: Government response to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Fifth report from Session 2024-25
Published 16 May 2025.
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government agrees with several of the Committee's recommendations, including on earlier planning guidance, productivity and capital-to-revenue switches, is still considering others, and disagrees with the recommendation on paperless providers.
- On planning, the government agrees that guidance should be issued earlier, with a target implementation date of December 2025. NHSE and DHSC are working so guidance is published "ideally before Christmas".
- On the ten-year plan, prevention spending definitions and community funding, the government "is considering" the recommendations and says it will notify the Committee of its response "when it is confirmed".
- The government agrees that NHSE should set out its productivity actions (target: Autumn 2025). It says the plan for productivity improvements from 2026-27 "will be set out following Phase 2 of the Spending Review".
- The government disagrees with the recommendation on paper reduction, saying it "does not agree that providers should be fully paperless" as some patient communications must be sent by letter. It expects trusts and ICBs "to restrict fax machine use".