§ Baroness Uddinasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they have any plans to change the debt structure of NHS trusts. [HL3263]
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health (Baroness Hayman)The New NHS White Paper made clear the Government's intention to abolish the internal market in the National Health Service and amend the NHS trust financial regime to make it more transparent and more suitable for a public service based partnership. As part of our programme to achieve this aim, we are changing the debt structure of NHS trusts. We have already taken steps to stop issuing long term interest-bearing loans to NHS trusts to finance their capital expenditure. Instead we are issuing Public Dividend Capital (PDC). The NHS Executive will now be making arrangements to replace existing interest-bearing debt with PDC without the application of premia or discounts because the Exchquer funds NHS trusts' normal debt servicing costs. This will supersede the present, market driven financial structure, reduce bureaucracy and provide a simpler, clearer and more understandable arrangement, in tune with NHS trusts' status as part of the public sector.