§ Ms PrimaroloTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what is her estimate of the total cost of administering the internal market in the health service in each of the last two years;
214W(2) what assessment she has made of the cost-effectiveness of the NHS reforms.
§ Mr. SackvilleThe national health service reforms are now firmly in place. It is impossible to put a figure on the relative cost of services under this system compared with any particular alternative, such as the previously directly managed arrangements, but there is no doubt that the NHS is now more effective in identifying local health needs and providing more efficient health care services.