GP Fundholding (Hansard, 15 December 1998)

§ 34. Mrs. Dean
To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will estimate the effect on management costs of abolishing GP fundholding. [62477]

§ 35. Mr. Borrow
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the savings in administrative costs to be made from abolishing GP fundholding. [62478]

§ Mr. Dobson
The White Paper sets out a programme of action to sweep away the bureaucracy of the internal market. Over the lifetime of this parliament, £1 billion that would otherwise have been spent on bureaucracy will be released for patient care. Of this, savings of £20 million472W were made in 1997–98 by deferring the eighth wave of general practitioner fundholding, with a further saving of £25 million in GP fundholding costs to be made in 1998–99.

§ Miss Widdecombe
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what consultations he has had with representatives of general practitioners about retaining fundholding after 31 March 1999. [63688]

§ Mr. Milburn
Consultations have taken place and continue to do so with organisations involved in, or affected by, general practitioner fundholding about all aspects of the Government's implementation of the new National Health Service.

§ Miss Widdecombe
To ask the Secretary of State for Health if, in the event of the Bill to abolish fundholding not having received Royal Assent by 31 March 1999, GP fundholders will receive their fundholding budget for 1999–2000. [63684]

§ Mr. Milburn
We propose, subject to the outcome of consultations currently in hand, to lay regulations that will bring the existing general practitioner fundholding schemes to an end on 31 March 1999 and substitute a residual scheme.