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NHS Deficits

At this stage, I would say to the hon. Gentleman that we looked at the issue of payment by results, but whether or not it is a distorting factor has not yet been finalised. If the hon. Gentleman reads the report in detail, he will find that the Government put their hands up in some respects and brought in some elements of payment by results and some tariffs that were clearly off the mark. Some changes were made earlier in this financial year to try to get them back to a more sensible balance. This has been and remains very much a moving picture. Once we start to make national health service expenditure transparent, as the Government have tried to do, all sorts of things are brought into play. That is not historical, but quite new in respect of payment by results. Other aspects, which I shall come on to in a few minutes if I can make some progress, have been more historical.