§ 35. Mr. SwayneTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to reduce the number of managers in the National Health Service. [18264]
§ Mr. MilburnThe Government are committed to maximising the proportion of National Health Service resources that are dedicated to patient care. We have no doubt that good management is essential to the effective running of the National Health Service. But we want to target unnecessary bureaucracy so that management effort is focused on improving health and health services. Our action to reduce management costs, including the changes announced in today's White Paper, will release £1 billion over the lifetime of this Parliament which will be ploughed back into direct patient care.