Oral question asked in the House of Commons, by Parmjit Dhanda (Labour). It was answered on Tuesday, 12 January 2010 on behalf of the Department of Health.

NHS Funding

Question: Is my right hon. Friend aware that the alternative formula that was put forward in this Chamber three years ago by the hon. Member for South Cambridgeshire (Mr. Lansley) would reduce the funding going to our local NHS in Gloucestershire by £109 for every man, woman and child who lives there? Will my right hon. Friend resist that 9 per cent. cut to our local NHS?

Answer: What I would say to my hon. Friend is that we have sat in the House over the past five years of this Parliament and heard every member of the shadow health team criticise the Government for allocating more resources to communities with higher health needs and more deprivation. So when we read what the Opposition's policy in their draft manifesto is, I do not know how they have the brass neck to sit there today and look as though it was always their policy: it beggars belief. The Opposition need to spell out which PCTs will win and which will lose under the new policy. I suspect that my hon. Friend's PCT might lose from a policy that gave more money to deprivation, on top of what we give such communities today.

Secondary information