NHS Sustainability and Transformation Plans Debate

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Department: Department of Health and Social Care

NHS Sustainability and Transformation Plans

Steve McCabe Excerpts
Wednesday 14th September 2016

(8 years, 3 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Diane Abbott Portrait Ms Abbott
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I need to make progress.

Steve McCabe Portrait Steve McCabe (Birmingham, Selly Oak) (Lab)
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Will my hon. Friend give way?

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Lindsay Hoyle Portrait Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr Lindsay Hoyle)
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Order. I think we can spot that the hon. Lady has just given way to a Government Member and now she is giving way to an Opposition Member. We do not need the cheering to go with it.

Steve McCabe Portrait Steve McCabe
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I want to check this with my hon. Friend. The last time I checked, Simon Stevens had said that STPs were designed to make up the £22 billion shortfall that the Government are not prepared to put in. Is that not the case?

Diane Abbott Portrait Ms Abbott
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It is indeed the case; rather than being an anodyne managerial exercise, the sustainability and transformation plans are designed to make up the missing £22 billion.

One of the most alarming aspects of the STPs is their secrecy. England has been divided into 44 regional footprints, and it is worth noting that they are called footprints to distract from the fact that they are ad hoc regional structures—they are the exact same regional structures that the Tory health Bill was supposed to sweep away. Because they are ad hoc and non-statutory, they are wholly unaccountable. In the world of the STPs, the public have no right to know.