Oral Answers to Questions

Rushanara Ali Excerpts

Tuesday 12th June 2012 Commons Chamber

[Alex Cunningham (Stockton North) (Lab)]

2. What the cost to the public purse was of NHS staff redundancies in 2011-12.

[Rushanara Ali (Bethnal Green and Bow) (Lab)]

3. What the cost to the public purse was of NHS staff redundancies in 2011-12.

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

Audited 2011-12 figures on NHS exit packages, including redundancies, are not yet available. The data will be available in the summer, once the Department’s annual report and accounts are laid before Parliament.

[Mr Burns]

No, of course I will not. What the hon. Gentleman fails to recognise is that the NHS must continually evolve to meet challenges and that this is the best chance the NHS has to improve and drive up standards. What he fails to mention in his question is that the £1.2 billion to £1.3 billion cost of the reform will lead, between now and the next election, to £4.5 billion of savings, £1.5 billion every year thereafter until 2020, and every single penny of that money will be reinvested in front-line services.

[Rushanara Ali]

We already know that this Government spent more than £168 million nationally making NHS staff redundant over 2010 and 2011, and more than £3.8 million in Tower Hamlets, where my constituency is based. Can the Minister tell the House how many of those staff were re-hired in the new system?

[Mr Burns]

Yes, there have been redundancies in the NHS, but 15,500 managers and administrators have ceased to work in the NHS, where the savings are reinvested in front-line services. There are also 4,161 extra doctors, 934 more midwives and 151 more health visitors. That is where we are concentrating the money—more front-line staff, fewer administrators.