Clause 12 - Prudential borrowing code
Health and Social Care (Community Health and Standards) Bill
4:00 pm
Mr Stephen McCabe (Birmingham, Hall Green, Labour)
I want to make four brief points about the amendments. This represents some of the central anxieties felt by those of us who support the general principle of the Bill. I hope that amendment No. 273 will not be accepted. Subsection (2) contains the essential safeguard that stops foundation trusts running up excessive debts and going bust. We do not want that to happen. We do not want the past experience with other trusts to be replicated, so I hope that we will reject the idea.
Amendment No. 247 raises a point that has been touched on several times today. We want to know whether there is extra borrowing capacity as a result of these proposals or whether the extra that the trusts can borrow comes off the NHS total. If it does, it suggests that there could be a preference for those trusts at the
expense of other parts of the NHS. That is a pretty central anxiety for a great many of us. It would be helpful if the Minister could be clear as possible about the status of the code. Some of the chief executives who responded to the initial proposals raised doubts about the financial proposals. They were keen to see what the code would contain. Finally, will long-term leasing be taken into account in the prudential borrowing code?