Oral Answers to Questions

Ian Lavery Excerpts

Tuesday 25th January 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Lansley]

Of course we will support the efforts of my hon. Friend and his local council to tackle alcohol abuse. He will have heard what was said earlier by the Under-Secretary of State for Health, my hon. Friend the Member for Guildford (Anne Milton), which I entirely endorse.

Local authorities and their communities should have a greater say in what happens in their areas. We will enable them to do so, through the Health and Social Care Bill, the establishment of local health improvement plans, and—as my hon. Friend the Under-Secretary said—the alcohol strategy that we will introduce following the public health White Paper later in the year.

[Ian Lavery (Wansbeck) (Lab)]

T3. Does the Secretary of State envisage a time when GP consortia may be purchased by foreign companies, and operated and administered thousands of miles away across the globe?

[Mr Lansley]

No, I do not. I am glad that the hon. Gentleman has asked that question, because I think that there is a world of difference between the question of the exercising of clinical leadership by general practices as members of a consortium in an area and the question of from whom they derive management support. I believe that many will derive it from existing PCT teams, the voluntary sector and local authorities. Sometimes the independent sector will be involved, but it is a question of the consortium choosing where to go rather than being taken over.