Oral Answers to Questions Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebatePhil Wilson
Main Page: Phil Wilson (Labour - Sedgefield)Department Debates - View all Phil Wilson's debates with the Department of Health and Social Care
(12 years, 9 months ago)
Commons ChamberI thank my hon. Friend for that question. He must be psychic, because I recently visited China, and it was fascinating to meet Ministers there. He will also be very pleased to hear, as I am sure the whole House will, that I visited a hospital and community centre that combines western medicine and traditional Chinese medicine.
The coalition agreement states that public sector employees, including health care employees, will be given a new right to set up employee-led co-operatives to run services. Can the Minister detail how many NHS co-operatives have been established and how many employees are involved in them?
I will gladly write to the hon. Gentleman if my recollection is wrong, but I think that something in the order of 25,000 staff have been transferred into social enterprises since the election. That represents something like £900 million-worth of NHS activity across England.