National Health Service (Amended Duties and Powers) Bill

Debate between Clive Efford and Robert Flello

Friday 21st November 2014 Commons Chamber

[Clive Efford]

It is not possible to compare what went on under the last Government with what has been introduced by the raw market mechanisms of the 2012 Act.

[Robert Flello (Stoke-on-Trent South) (Lab)]

I, too, congratulate my hon. Friend. Is he aware that in north Staffordshire, cancer and end-of-life care is going into the private sector on a 10-year contract worth £1.2 billion?

[Clive Efford]

There are numerous examples of contracts that are going out to tender, and the cost to the national health service of lawyers and accountants is increasing. The Government have made so much of the issue of bureaucracy in the NHS, but when I asked the Secretary of State about the cost of those lawyers and accountants to oversee the tendering process, what was the response? It was, “We do not collect those figures centrally.” I wonder why that is.