NHS Sustainability and Transformation Plans

Catherine West Excerpts

Wednesday 14th September 2016 Commons Chamber

[Sir Simon Burns]

Will my hon. Friend give way?

[Catherine West (Hornsey and Wood Green) (Lab)]

Will the Minister give way?

[Mr Dunne]

I give way to the hon. Lady.

[Catherine West]

I thank the Minister for giving way and hope he does well in his first performance here in the House. What percentage of acute trusts are in deficit, and what proportion of clinical commissioning groups are in special measures?

[Mr Dunne]

Many trusts were in deficit in the last financial year, and those deficits were funded by the Department of Health. Looking forward, we are using the financial discipline of control totals not to instigate cuts, as the hon. Member for Hackney North and Stoke Newington suggested, but to hold the accountable managers to account for delivering within the financial envelope that those control totals represent. That is what a responsible Government do—we give money to public services and expect them to live within those means. This year the NHS has received one of the largest cash settlements it has ever had, three times more than the rate of inflation.