What his Department's policy is on reducing waiting times for diagnostics.

By 2008, the maximum time from GP referral to the start of treatment will be down to just 18 weeks. That includes diagnostic procedures.

To that end, I announced last week an increase of 2.75 million extra scans and diagnostic procedures by 2008, all of which will be delivered to patients in the national health service free of charge at the point of need.

On the latter point, the Secretary of State knows of the grave concerns about the previous contract for MRI scans, especially the problems of hidden costs, staff leaving the NHS, tests having to be repeated and wrong diagnosis. Why is he confident that the same problems will not occur under the new contract?

Because there is not a shred of evidence to show that there were undue problems with the first contract. Twenty-five thousand treatments have been carried out under that contract and patient satisfaction is 96 per cent., which is comparable with anything that we have ever done in the NHS. Of course, when one embarks on such an undertaking, there are teething problems. However, we should be careful to ensure that we are on the side not only of the health care providers in the NHS but of the patient. I know that the Liberals always put the interest of the patient second to that of the producer, but the 600,000 extra scans that we procured for NHS patients mean that, for example, in Newham hospital, which I visited last week, people are now waiting less than one week. That is a huge improvement for patients. It is one of the reasons why, when purchasing another 2.4 million scans, I was willing not only to extend the number of NHS scans by 1.4 million but to procure another 1 million from the independent sector, in the knowledge that they would all be delivered free—with no charges, unlike what would happen under a Conservative Government—to all patients in the NHS.

The Constituency of North-West Leicestershire is mainly served by the University Hospitals of Leicester Trust—one of the largest in the country—which sees 2,500 people a day as new or follow-up out-patients. It had a disappointing record until recently. Will my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State come with me to the hospital to see how the position has been significantly transformed? All waiting list targets have been fulfilled six months in advance of the Government's requirements, all suspected cancer patients are seen in 14 days, and the management and staff are among the finest in the country. Will he accompany me to inspect what has been done?

I shall certainly try to arrange that in my schedule, but in any case I congratulate the staff not only in the hospital that my hon. Friend mentioned but throughout the country, who have matched the investment that the taxpayer has been prepared to invest in the NHS with reform and finding new ways of working so that output is greater, whatever the level of investment. The speed with which people can see GPs or be referred from GPs to consultants is light years ahead of what it was under the Conservative Government. However, I accept that, when more people are going through far more quickly, there is a potential bottleneck at the diagnostic level. That is why I am not only rapidly expanding the number of NHS scans, tests and diagnostic treatments but procuring from the independent sector. I stress to all hon. Members my pledge that, under this Government, charges will not be introduced for basic operations or basic treatments on the diagnostic side. To do so would be at odds with the founding principle of the NHS, and the Government will do no other than stand against such an outcome.

The Secretary of State referred to the teething troubles with some of the reporting from private sector MRI scans. How will he tackle those troubles, especially given that there is no longer any contact between the referring clinician for the scan and the radiologist who does the reporting? In the past, that contact was incredibly helpful.

There is continual liaison with the Department on this matter. Before embarking on this course of action, the Department consulted widely on it, including with the royal colleges, and we will continue to try to identify any problems involved. We should not pretend that there are never any problems in diagnostics in the NHS. There are, and they include huge delays, but I can tell the hon. Gentleman that, as a result of the medical programme to which he referred, waiting times for diagnostics have been cut right across the NHS. For instance, in Huddersfield, access times have been cut from 38 weeks to eight weeks; in Ipswich, they have been cut from more than 30 weeks to five weeks; and in Newham, they have been cut from 18 weeks to less than a week. While I accept that we have to deal with the problems that arise—including problems involving a degree of Opposition to any novel procurement outside the NHS from people inside it; we have to take that into account—the patient must come first. The patient is getting far better, quicker service than ever before and, I repeat, all of it is free at the point of need.

These are the hidden waiting lists that the Government say they will finally publish. They will not, however, publish them until after the General Election. The Secretary of State has just rehearsed some figures on improvements in diagnostics, but will he share all the figures that he has with Members of the House, so that we can see for ourselves how the NHS is improving? Will he also confirm that the announcement that he made last Friday in fact involves expending from existing NHS budgets to deliver the new contracts, rather than from new NHS funds? Will he allow the local NHS to take decisions for itself about how best to cut diagnostic waits, rather than bouncing it into a nationally arranged contract? Will he also ensure that all NHS scanning equipment is being used to the full, rather than sitting idle, as much of it is now?

On the hon. Gentleman's first point, the reason that we cannot publish comprehensive lists of waiting times for diagnostics is that, for 60 years and under successive Governments, that information was never collected. It is unfair that we do not include that information when we calculate the waiting time for operations, and I therefore pledge that it will be published. By 2008, it will be not only published but included in the calculation of the waiting time, which will be counted not just from the last little bit of the journey but from the beginning right to the end. And we pledge that it will be 18 weeks.

The hon. Gentleman also asked whether we would allow local providers of health care to have the power to choose how they would provide it. No, I will allow the patients to decide how, where and when they will gain access, and I will allow them to do that in days, in some cases, rather than weeks or months. I will certainly not do what some people in the Liberal party want to do, which is to break up the NHS by making it rely effectively on local authority control. That would allow inequalities to grow in the most impoverished areas, while the most affluent areas could provide better access. That, to me, is as bad as the charging regime that the Tories want to introduce.

Order. Before I go on to question 5, I must point out that that is where we are, although we are halfway through Question Time. I must ask for briefer answers and, of course, briefer questions.