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Business of the House

It is going on 79,000 new nurses, 27,000 new doctors, 83 major new hospital building programmes and a range of extra facilities. By financial year 2007–08, the budget for the national health service, compared with what we inherited from the Conservative Government whom we replaced in financial year 1996–97, will have increased by three times—a three-times increase in spending. Alongside that increase, to deal with the hon. Gentleman's specific point, it is obviously important—I believe that this was one of the valuable changes actually made by the previous Conservative Government—that local authorities manage their own money, and it is important that the trusts can manage those extra resources effectively. Local control of those budgets has made a significant difference to the consequences in the local community of having effective health care, and it must continue. But I will take no criticisms whatever from the hon. Gentleman in relation to the size of the national health service budget.