Clause 4 - Public-private partnerships
Health and Social Care Bill
6:15 pm
Mr Desmond Swayne (New Forest West, Conservative)
I rise to speak to amendment No. 72, tabled under my name and that of my hon. Friend the Member for Woodspring (Dr. Fox). When I put my name to that amendment, I expected that my hon. Friend would move it. However, events have intervened. Labour Members who have unjustifiably accused me of verbosity will be reassured that I will, of necessity, be brief.
We support the principles of partnership and involvement with the private sector that underlie the clause—indeed, we have a measure of enthusiasm about them. That is my understanding, at least, but if I have got it wrong my hon. Friend the Member for Woodspring will correct me.
The Bill allows the Secretary of State to
form, or participate in forming, companies to provide
finance and guarantees to the bodies in question. Our amendments would create the requirement for the audit of the assets and liabilities that the Secretary of State will acquire or incur under the opportunities that arise for him in the provisions of clauses 4 and 5. That strikes me as perfectly sensible—pure common sense, entirely uncontroversial. Therefore, I have every expectation that the Minister will accept the amendments.
Members of the Committee will understand, however, that a concern underlies that requirement. The track record of Government investing in the private sector is long and inglorious. I will not try your patience, Mr. Maxton, or use the Committee's time to detail any of that history—the history of picking winners, for instance. I am sure that it would not prove controversial if I were to do so, however, because we are now governed by new Labour, which accepts the case that mistakes were made. Government Members would now take great care before putting in a Bill provisions that enabled such a process to begin again.
The amendments would require a quantifying of the liabilities that the Secretary of State incurs and the finance that he puts at risk when he invests in companies. They would require the Secretary of State to measure the liabilities into which he enters and to publish them annually, making public the contingent liabilities and off-balance sheet risks. That begs the question as to how one measures such contingent liabilities. In my former occupation in the Royal Bank of Scotland, I specialised entirely in developing technical solutions, finding algorithms and computerising them to calculate precisely the values of those contingent liabilities.
In the past, general practitioners have financed their own premises, borrowing commercially and obtaining reimbursement of the rental from the health authority by the cost rent, or notional rent schemes. That system encouraged general practitioners to work with health authorities to identify third-party developers to design, build and finance premises, and then let them to general practitioners and trusts at a market rent. The national health service does not want a lease longer than 15 to 20 years, however, and I would not blame it for that. Given the 10-year plan, it would be too much to expect the NHS to enter leases for more than 15 or 20 years. Indeed, many commercial undertakings would not wish to do so.