Clause 7 - Funding of strategic health authorities
NHS Reform and Health Care
10:00 am
Mr Oliver Heald (North East Hertfordshire, Conservative)
I beg to move amendment No. 134, in page 8, line 17, leave out `not exceeding' and insert `equal to'.
The purpose of this probing amendment is to ask why the Secretary of State should pay a sum ``not exceeding'' the amount allotted rather than a sum ``equal to'' it. It may be that the sum allotted is provisional and that, if the costs of an authority are lower, the Minister would want to pay less—as one would. However, he does not appear to have a duty to pay more if the costs are higher.
Let me give an example. Can the Minister explain what happened in connection with last year's underspend of £700 million? Some may find it hard to believe that there was a £700 million underspend, given pressures on the NHS such as waiting lists. What is the duty of the Secretary of State to health authorities? Why is it that he pays a ``not exceeding'' figure on part I expenditure of the sort dealt with here, but pays a sum equal to the expenditure under on part II? Is it because the amount that is recovered under part II has already been spent and is therefore quantified, whereas the allotted amount is a provisional sum? Can the Minister explain?