NHS: Financial Performance Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Department of Health and Social Care
Andrew Stephenson
Main Page: Andrew Stephenson (Conservative - Pendle)Department Debates - View all Andrew Stephenson's debates with the Department of Health and Social Care
(9 years, 2 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
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Ben Gummer
My hon. Friend raises an important point. There are trusts that are being managed exceptionally well which hit the budgets they set at the beginning of the year. That is the normal course of business for other organisations. This is why my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State introduced the clawback on new chief executive contracts, which mean that if they do not perform according to plan then a proportion of their salary will be docked at the end of the year. That is an important reform, one not introduced by the previous Administration but by us, the party of the NHS.
Andrew Stephenson (Pendle) (Con)
May I echo the comments made by my hon. Friend the Member for Newark (Robert Jenrick)? Parts of the Royal Blackburn hospital and Burnley general hospital were rebuilt by private companies in 2006, under the previous Labour Government, at a combined cost of about £140 million. East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust will have to pay back almost £1 billion by 2041 because of the PFI contracts signed at that time. Does the Minister agree that the toxic PFI legacy is one of the biggest challenges facing most of our NHS trusts?
Ben Gummer
A considerable number of PFI contracts were poorly negotiated under the previous Labour Administration. They need to be looked at one by one, and the Department is committed to doing that again to see whether we can reduce the burden on trusts. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State will have more to say about that in the course of the transformational changes that we are helping the NHS to make.