6.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: Spring 2023 6.2 The government has been clear that the overall NHS waiting list is likely to worsen prior to improvements and service recovery. 6.3 As set out in the response to recommendation 2, NHS England also published the Elective Recovery Plan in February 2022. This plan sets out a clear vision for how the NHS will recover and expand elective and cancer services over the next three years, and what patients can expect. There are also clear goals and objectives set on prioritisation within the Recovery Plan. This allows better understanding of future demand, with further updates to be provided later in the year. 6.4 All of the above however, is subject to demand and capacity levels similar to pre-covid, whilst also maintaining low levels of Covid across the NHS. 6.5 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: Autumn 2024 6.6 The Elective Recovery Plan sets out goals for this Spending Review period to use the current funding settlement to maximise elective performance. 6.7 However, as referenced in the response to recommendation 2, there remains both short-term and long-term uncertainty around capacity and demand because of the pandemic and its impact. Ahead of the next Spending Review settlement process, the department will work closely with NHSE&I and other stakeholders to develop funding proposals for the next SR period to be submitted to HM Treasury, using the latest data available at the time.