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Budget Resolutions and Economic Situation

I could argue about the figures, but I will not because I do not have time. The reality is that the spending will be more than it was when we came to power. It will represent 5.6 per cent. of gross domestic product—£90 billion. I wonder what the amount would have been if the hon. Gentleman’s party had won in 1997. It would have continued going backwards, as it did when the Conservatives were in power. We have been successful locally. I will probably bore people to death by telling them what has happened on the ground, but I do not mind that. Let me point out the A-level pass rate in five comprehensive schools in my constituency. The pass rate at Whickham comprehensive school is 98 per cent. It is 94.4 per cent. at Hookergate and 100 per cent. at Ryton comprehensive. The rate is 100 per cent. at St. Thomas More and 97.1 per cent. at Lord Lawson of Beamish. Let me turn to O-levels. In 2005, Gateshead was ranked as the eighth best performing local authority in the country with 65 per cent. of pupils achieving five passes at A to C. Last year, nearly 70 per cent. of pupils achieved those grades, which made Gateshead the fifth best authority in the country, with a figure well above the national average of 59 per cent. The percentage of passes at A to C increased at Hookergate from 39 per cent. to 52 per cent. The figure at Lord Lawson stabilised at 78 per cent. The rate increased at Ryton from 59 per cent. to 62 per cent. At Whickham, the figure increased from 78 per cent. to 84 per cent. Unfortunately, the rate at Thomas More stayed the same—at 100 per cent. We should all be proud that those people are getting more than five O-levels. Our primary schools have achieved results that are well above the national average. Whickham Parochial school is the third best school in the country for top 200 scores at level 5. Results in maths, English and science are above the national average. Our primary schools are ranked 26th in the country for added value, and we will open seven brand new schools in the next year. That is where the money is being spent. I come to another non-contentious issue: the health service. The Tories say that there was no mention of health in the Budget, but there was. The Chancellor said that there would be £8 billion extra. Yes, that £8 billion had already been announced, but it will be spent in the next year—an extra 10 per cent. spent on health. That will go towards the trebling of health spending since we came to power in 1997, which was in the manifesto. The NHS now has a work force of 1.36 million, with 300,000 more employees than in 1997. Vacancy rates are at an all-time low. I have great concerns about the people who have lost their jobs in the health service. I was a president of Unison, which represents more health service workers than any other union in this country, so I have a right to be concerned. Last year, there were 1,446 compulsory redundancies. That was far too many—1,446 too many—but it was not the 21,000 nurses that the Tories were talking about last year. That really was a con trick. There is no doubt that Ministers and managers in the health service need to get their act together because what is happening in the health service is not by any means in order. They need to put the health service right. However, the fact that there are 100,000 more nurses and doctors than there were in 1997 is a success. It was a failure that nearly 300,000 people were waiting for operations in 1997, but it is a success that no one now waits as long as people did then.