Valerie questions the Secretary of State on £3 billion taken from the NHS by the Treasury

During a statement on the Mandate to the NHS Commissioning Board on 13 November 2012, Valerie asked the Secretary of State for Health whether any underspend in the budget stays in the NHS.

Valerie said:

“Will the Secretary of State confirm that if there is an underspend in the NHS Commissioning Board financial allocation, that will stay in the NHS and not go back to the Treasury?”

The Secretary of State’s response:

“As the hon. Lady knows, we manage our finances extremely carefully but we do have underspends. We try to minimise them and there has been a real-terms growth in spending—actual money spent in the NHS, compared with Labour’s plans. In the first year of the review there was a real-terms increase and we will continue to manage NHS finances with a commitment to protecting the budget, which did not ever happen when the right hon. Member for Leigh was in post.”

You can read Valerie’s question and the Secretary of State for Health’s response here.