§ Mr. ColmanTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to measure changes in the productivity of the National Health Service. [34027]
§ Mr. MilburnWe are committed to a revised approach to measuring National Health Service performance. We are currently consulting on a new national framework for assessing performance, which will be used to demonstrate the progress of the NHS in making best use of its resources to ensure that the quality of local health services and the health of local people are getting better every year. The new approach will include demanding targets on unit costs and productivity throughout the NHS, with NHS trusts required to publish and benchmark their costs on a consistent basis.