Oral Answers to Questions

Richard Graham Excerpts

Tuesday 7th December 2010 Commons Chamber

[Paul Burstow]

My hon. Friend might be interested to know that the Ministry of Justice is reviewing sections of the Coroners and Justice Act 2009 and how they will be implemented. That review will include the subject of how deaths are reported to coroners. In fact, the statutory requirements to report deaths of mental health patients to coroners are the same as those for other patients, and NHS providers must report deaths of service users that occur during, or as a result of, care or treatment that they are providing.

[Richard Graham (Gloucester) (Con)]

17. What recent representations he has received on the management and administration costs of the NHS; and if he will make a statement.

[The Minister of State, Department of Health (Mr Simon Burns)]

As I said to my hon. Friend the Member for Pendle (Andrew Stephenson) earlier, administration costs across the whole health sector will reduce by a third in real terms over the spending review period. This is a £1.4 billion cash reduction and a £1.9 billion real-terms reduction, from a baseline of £5.1 billion. Every penny of the savings will be reinvested in front-line services.

[Richard Graham]

I am grateful to the Minister for his reply. Can he reassure my constituents in Gloucester that this is broadly the degree of savings that we should expect from NHS Gloucestershire’s expenditure on management, and that those savings will be spent on the rising demand for front-line services, including in the new, soon-to-be-opened women’s centre?

[Mr Burns]

Yes, I can give my hon. Friend the assurance that he seeks. We have made it quite clear that we will reduce management costs throughout the NHS by more than 45% over the next four years, and establishing GP consortiums will allow us to strip out the costly top-down bureaucracy that now exists. All the money that will be saved through these initiatives will be reinvested in front-line services, which will benefit the constituents of my hon. Friend and those of every other right hon. and hon. Member throughout England.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Lansley]

The right hon. Gentleman is in no position to make that point, given that his party wanted to cut the NHS budget. What my right hon. and learned Friend said this morning about our working together is indeed true. However, this is not a case of our diverting patients; it is about ensuring that people who have mental health problems are dealt with appropriately rather than there being a failure to deal with them. That applies whether they are in prison or in hospital. We are working together on that, and I know that my right hon. and learned Friend will be making a statement shortly.

[Richard Graham (Gloucester) (Con)]

T8. Can Ministers reassure me that, given the relative health deprivation in Gloucester, the ring-fenced funding promised in the White Paper on public health will in fact benefit people there?

[Mr Burns]

Yes, I can certainly give my hon. Friend that assurance. The money will be ring-fenced to ensure that local communities can enhance the quality of public health for all constituents both in Gloucestershire and throughout the country.