§ 15. Mr. John Bercow (Buckingham)If he will make a statement on his plans for releasing £s1 billion from NHS bureaucracy; and when he expects this target to be met. [38688]
The Minister of State, Department of HealthThe Government have already taken action to reduce bureaucracy in the national health service. By the end of this year, £240 million that would otherwise have been spent on bureaucracy will be released for patient care. Building on that, the White Paper "The New NHS" sets out a programme of action to release £1 billion from bureaucracy by the end of this Parliament.
§ Mr. BercowI am grateful to the Minister for that reply. How does he square his rhetoric about cutting bureaucracy in the health service with the intention in the White Paper to create a national institute of clinical excellence, a commission for health improvement, a primary care group, an advisory committee on resource allocation and a capital prioritisation advisory group? What is his estimate of the likely annual cost to the national health service of the flotilla of pen pushers that he proposes to create?
§ Mr. MilburnI know that the hon. Gentleman has a reputation as a zealot for all things Conservative, but I would have thought that even he would have drawn the line at protecting and defending bureaucracy at the expense of patients. We want to establish a national institute for clinical excellence and a commission for health improvement to improve the quality of services to patients. I hoped that that would command support not only from Labour Members, but across the House. I can tell the hon. Gentleman that we intend to release £1 billion by cutting the number of commissioning bodies from around 4,000 to as few as 500, and by ending extra-contractual referrals, the annual contracting round and the absurd system of individual invoicing introduced by the Conservative Government.