Department of Health: Budget

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath Excerpts

Thursday 6th December 2012 Lords Chamber

Asked By

[Lord Hunt of Kings Heath]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what proportion of the Department of Health’s budget for the 2010-11 and 2011-12 financial years was unspent.

[Lord Hunt of Kings Heath]

My Lords, in asking the Question standing in my name on the Order Paper, I remind the House of my health interests.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health (Earl Howe)]

My Lords, the department underspent against its budget by 1.7% in 2010-11 and by 1.3% in 2011-12, or by 1.5% combined across the two years.

[Lord Hunt of Kings Heath]

My Lords, I think that is about £3 billion; perhaps the noble Earl will confirm that. This Government promised to protect the NHS and to cut the deficit. In fact, they are cutting the NHS and the deficit is rising. How can the department justify handing back so much money to the Treasury when large parts of the NHS are under great financial pressure at the moment?

[Earl Howe]

My Lords, the deficit is not rising. The Government are putting £12.5 billion extra into the NHS over the course of the spending review. The noble Lord, Lord Hunt, will know from his ministerial experience that government departments have an absolute requirement to manage expenditure within the financial controls that are set by Her Majesty’s Treasury and voted on by Parliament. For the Department of Health that means that the net expenditure outturn, which incidentally stems from around 400 organisations, all of whose accounts have to be consolidated, must be contained within the revenue and capital expenditure limits. Given those circumstances, it is sensible to plan for a modest underspend to mitigate against unexpected cost pressures.