Oral Answers to Questions

John Healey Excerpts

Tuesday 7th December 2010 Commons Chamber

[John Healey (Wentworth and Dearne) (Lab)]

May I welcome the Secretary of State’s sensible rethink and change of mind on the funding of specialist children’s hospitals after Labour Members raised concerns during the previous Health questions? During those questions he also got his NHS funding figures in a twist, so what has he got to say about the updated inflation forecasts on page 83 of last week’s Office for Budget Responsibility report? They show that for the next four years the inflation increase will be bigger than the cash increase in the NHS—in other words, the NHS will get a real cut in funding, not a real increase. Does he accept the OBR figures? Does he accept that they are hard proof that the Government are breaking their promise to protect NHS funding?

[Mr Lansley]

Let me tell the right hon. Gentleman that it is not a change on specialist children’s hospitals. The previous Government initiated a study by York university, which reported. I made it clear, when we discussed it last, that we were examining the results of that together with the specialist children’s hospitals. We have reached what I regard, as I hope they do, as a very acceptable outcome.

The spending review gave a real-terms increase in NHS funding. That was the commitment we gave and it was set out in the spending review, and it remains true that revenue funding for the NHS continues to rise in real terms.

[John Healey]

Perhaps I should have asked the Secretary of State whether he has even seen the OBR report. Let me try to help him. The OBR’s inflation figures mean that the NHS will not get the 0.4% real increase that he bragged about and that was stated in the spending review; the NHS will get a 0.25% decrease—a cut—in funding, as has been confirmed today for me by the House of Commons Library. No wonder the Prime Minister is rattled and is asking what on earth the Health Secretary is doing with the NHS. Does the Health Secretary accept that this confirms that the coalition’s pledge to guarantee that health spending rises

“in real terms in each year of the Parliament”

is being broken? How does he explain that to the Prime Minister and how does he explain it to the public?

[Mr Lansley]

No, I do not accept that for a minute. At the spending review we set out what met our commitment. I am very clear that, as I just told the right hon. Gentleman, revenue funding for the NHS will increase in real terms. It will do so because we did not listen to the advice of the Labour party in the run-up to the spending review, which was to cut the NHS budget. We did not do that and we were committed at the spending review to an increase in real terms. The gross domestic product deflator will move from time to time, but the commitment that we set out was clear and will continue.