The NHS Commissioning Board will be accountable for improving outcomes for patients across all five domains on the NHS Outcomes Framework. Aspects of the treatment of people with skin conditions could be considered under any of the five domains. This will require a change in the mindset of the National Health Service, focusing on people as individuals rather than on the conditions from which they may be suffering; and on the patient pathway, not on the organisations that treat them.

We understand that the NHS Commissioning Board, in recruiting a cadre of National Clinical Directors to support the five domains, has sought to emphasise this new approach. Many of the national clinical directors have cross-cutting roles rather than roles related to individual medical conditions. There are no plans to introduce a national clinical director for dermatology, but senior members of the board’s medical directorate are in constructive dialogue with the British Association for Dermatology on the best ways of improving outcomes for patients with skin conditions.

The NHS Commissioning Board will be accountable for improving outcomes for patients across all five domains on the NHS Outcomes Framework. Aspects of the treatment of people with skin conditions could be considered under any of the five domains. This will require a change in the mindset of the National Health Service, focusing on people as individuals rather than on the conditions from which they may be suffering; and on the patient pathway, not on the organisations that treat them.

We understand that the NHS Commissioning Board, in recruiting a cadre of National Clinical Directors to support the five domains, has sought to emphasise this new approach. Many of the national clinical directors have cross-cutting roles rather than roles related to individual medical conditions. There are no plans to introduce a national clinical director for dermatology, but senior members of the board’s medical directorate are in constructive dialogue with the British Association for Dermatology on the best ways of improving outcomes for patients with skin conditions.

There are a total of 241 specialist public health screening and immunisation posts in NHS Commissioning Board local area teams. The position in early March 2013 was that 124 posts had been successfully filled mainly through internal recruitment process, the remaining posts were advertised and interviews set up. A detailed breakdown of individual applicants’ backgrounds is not available nationally, but local teams are undertaking reviews of skills and training needs while training programmes have been set up for people to book on to.

Sir David Nicholson will take up appointment as the chief executive of the NHS Commissioning Board on a full-time basis from 1 April 2013.

Clinical commissioning groups will have responsibility for personal health budgets. The NHS Commissioning Board will be responsible at national level for supporting implementation, just as it will support and oversee the commissioning system as a whole.

The mandate between the Government and the NHS Commissioning Board (NHSCB) issued on 13 November reaffirms the Government’s commitment to better healthcare services for all. The mandate commits the National Health Service to developing better healthcare services for all offenders, including women offenders.

The NHSCB is required to have in place appropriate commissioning mechanisms for healthcare by April 2013, including for women prisoners. The department has regular and ongoing discussions with the NHSCB in relation to this.

A copy of the mandate has already been placed in the Library.

The Government have committed that health spending will rise in real terms in each year of this Parliament. The funding provided to the National Health Service Commissioning Board (NHSCB) for 2013-14 also represents real terms growth in recurrent funding against a comparable baseline for 2012-13. The mandate to the NHSCB sets high level objectives, rather than specific targets, and it will be the NHSCB’s responsibility to determine how best it can achieve its objectives and its other responsibilities within its available budget. As the mandate sets out in a specific objective, this will require good financial management and unprecedented improvements in value for money, in line with delivery of the quality, innovation, productivity and prevention programme.

The National Health Service Commissioning Board's total revenue resource limit of £95,623 million in 2013-14 is in 2013-14 prices. The comparable figure for 2012-13 is £93,649 million.

The Government's commitment to increase health spending in real terms in each year of the Parliament is based upon the recurrent delegated expenditure limit, excluding depreciation and impairments. The National Health Service Commissioning Board's recurrent revenue funding, excluding depreciation and impairments and ring-fenced funding for public health, totals £91,788 million in 2013-14, which represents a 0.1% increase in real terms (2.6% in cash terms) against the comparable baseline of £89,470 million in 2012-13.

The mandate plays a vital role in setting out the strategic direction for the board and ensuring it is democratically accountable. Under Section 13A(2) of the National Health Service Act 2006, as amended by the Health and Social Care Act 2012, the board is legally required to seek to achieve the objectives set out in the mandate. The Government will work very closely with the board, and will be able to discuss progress and any risks as they emerge during the Secretary of State's regular accountability meetings with the chair of the board. The Government have a number of ways in which they can seek assurances from the board including asking the board to report on what action it has taken or asking the chair to write a letter setting out a plan for improvement. As a last resort, Ministers have powers to step in and intervene in the event of failure. The Government will and should be held to account for the success of the mandate.

The mandate from the Government to the National Health Service Commissioning Board (NHSCB) sets high level objectives for the NHSCB, rather than specific targets. For example, the Health and Social Care Act 2012 sets legal duties on the NHSCB to seek to secure continuous improvement in the quality of services and to have regard to the need to reduce inequalities in access to services and in the outcomes achieved for patients from those services. Accordingly, the mandate sets the expectation that the NHSCB will make continuous progress as measured against all five domains and the outcome indicators in the NHS Outcomes Framework. However, it does not set specific quantified targets for the level of progress with specific detailed costings. Rather, it will be the responsibility of the NHSCB to determine how best it can achieve its objectives set by the mandate and its other responsibilities within its available budget, which represents real terms growth in its recurrent funding in 2013-14 against a comparable baseline for 2012-13.

The National Health Service Commissioning Board (NHSCB) has been allocated an overall budget, it has not been allocated specific amounts for specific objectives or policies. It is for the NHSCB to determine how best to achieve its objectives and discharge its responsibilities and to prioritise its resources in doing so.

The National Health Service Commissioning Board (NHSCB) has been allocated an overall budget, it has not been allocated specific amounts for specific objectives or policies. It is for the NHSCB to determine how best to achieve its objectives and discharge its responsibilities and to prioritise its resources in doing so.

The mandate to the National Health Service Commissioning Board (NHSCB) does not include an objective for it to deliver a specific level of efficiency savings. The overall requirement for the health system to deliver efficiency improvements of up to £20 billion by 2014-15 will require all parts of the system to contribute and is not solely the responsibility of the NHSCB.

The Government have consulted and worked closely with the NHS Commissioning Board (the board) in developing the mandate, but there is no written agreement of this kind. Under Section 13A(2) of the National Health Service Act 2006, as amended by the Health and Social Care Act 2012, the board is legally required to seek to achieve the objectives set out in the mandate. It is free to determine how best to achieve the objectives it has been set and how to prioritise its resources.

Although the board's budget for 2014-15 will be set next year, the Government have committed to real terms growth in overall health spending in 2014-15.

Infertility treatment services will be commissioned by clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) with the NHS Commissioning Board providing oversight and support. This will include the provision of supportive resources and tools on how CCGs can collaborate to commission infertility treatment services.

The NHS Commissioning Board will have general intervention powers in relation to CCGs, should it be satisfied that a CCG is failing or has failed to discharge any of its functions or there is a significant risk that it will fail to do so. These include directing the CCG to discharge a function in a particular way and within a specified period. The board will also have powers to request documents and information, and to require from a CCG explanation of how it is proposing to exercise any of its functions. The Health and Social Care Act 2012 requires the board to publish guidance setting out how it proposes to exercise its intervention powers, so as to ensure that the arrangements are clear and transparent. The Commissioning Board will need to consider CCG responsibilities to commission infertility treatment services as part of this.

The information requested is not available. The process for agreeing the functions transferring from existing to new organisations and the members of staff that transfer with these functions has not been completed. This information will eventually be held by the new organisations that will be responsible for this work.

Once the NHS Commissioning Board and Public Health England have taken up their responsibilities in this area, the Department of Health will work with them to deliver the commitments set out in Improving Outcomes: A Strategy for Cancer, which was published in 2011. A copy has already been placed in the Library.

The information requested is not available. The process for agreeing the functions transferring from existing to new organisations and the members of staff that transfer with these functions has not been completed. This information will eventually be held by the new organisations that will be responsible for this work.

Once the NHS Commissioning Board and Public Health England have taken up their responsibilities in this area, the Department of Health will work with them to deliver the commitments set out in Improving Outcomes: A Strategy for Cancer, which was published in 2011. A copy has already been placed in the Library.

The Chief Health Professions Officer (CHPO) is the Government’s most senior allied health professions adviser. Following the implementation

of the Health and Social Care Act 2012, the role is to be retained in the NHS Commissioning Board in order to provide clinical advice and professional leadership. Other organisations within the new health and social care architecture will be able to access to the CHPO’s advice, including the department, Public Health England and Health Education England.

We understand the NHS Commissioning Board Authority is currently addressing how best to incorporate leadership roles for allied health professionals within the new National Health Service structures.

We understand that both musculoskeletal conditions and research are likely to fall within the responsibility of the NHS Commissioning Board’s medical director, Sir Bruce Keogh. Detailed portfolios within the board’s medical directorate have not been finalised but it is likely that issues on musculoskeletal conditions would in the first instance fall to the clinical lead for domain 2 of the NHS outcomes framework, improving the quality of life for people with long-term conditions.