Oral Answers to Questions

Alison McGovern Excerpts

Tuesday 22nd March 2016 Commons Chamber

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Life Sciences (George Freeman)]

I am delighted to join my hon. Friend in that congratulation and to confirm the announcement in the autumn statement that the Government are committed to putting £4.8 billion of capital into the NHS every year through to 2021. That will include funding for proton beam therapy and for major new hospitals at Brighton and at Sandwell, in addition to our billion pounds a year for NHS research and our £700 million a year for medical research through the Medical Research Council.

[Alison McGovern (Wirral South) (Lab)]

The financial year ends next week. What does the Secretary of State expect the NHS provider budget deficit to be by then?

[Mr Jeremy Hunt]

We know that the deficit will be bigger this year, and that there is extreme pressure. Part of the reason for that is that NHS trusts have rightly said that, in the wake of what happened at Mid Staffs, they want to ensure that their wards are properly staffed, but they have done that by using unsustainable agency staff. The most important thing that we need to do is to move to permanent full-time staff rather than agency staff who are too expensive and not good for care.