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Food Labelling

Mr. Richard Bacon accordingly presented a Bill to make further provision for relevant information about food, including information about the country of origin, contents and standards of production of that food, to be made available to consumers by labelling, marking or in other ways; and for connected purposes: And the same was read the First time; and ordered to be read a Second time on Friday 16 July, and to be printed [Bill 77].

ROYAL ASSENT

Mr. Speaker: I have to notify the House, in accordance with the Royal Assent Act 1967, that the Queen has signified her Royal Assent to the following Act:

Consolidated Fund Act 2004

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Orders of the Day

WAYS AND MEANS

Order read for resuming adjourned debate on Question [17 March].

AMENDMENT OF THE LAW

Motion made, and Question proposed,

(1) That it is expedient to amend the law with respect to the National Debt and the public revenue and to make further provision in connection with finance.


(2) This Resolution does not extend to the making of any amendment with respect to value added tax so as to provide—


(a) for zero-rating or exempting a supply, acquisition or importation;
(b) for refunding an amount of tax;
(c) for any relief, other than a relief that—
(i) so far as it is applicable to goods, applies to goods of every description, and
(ii) so far as it is applicable to services, applies to services of every description—[Mr. Gordon Brown.]

Question again proposed.

Budget Resolutions and Economic Situation

4.25 pm

The Secretary of State for Health (Dr. John Reid): We on the Labour Benches are immensely proud of our national health service and of those who work in it. We say that not because NHS staff never make mistakes; they do. Any organisation that has to treat 1 million patients every 36 hours is obviously fallible. We do not express our support because the system is perfect. No human organisation that depends on the endeavours of 1.3 million people could possibly amount to perfection. However, we express support and our pride in the NHS because it brings more relief to people from pain, distress, anguish and insecurity than any other organisation in the world.

The question that we face, as we consider the implications of the Budget, is not whether the NHS is perfect or whether some imperfections can be elicited from the 1.3 million people who are engaged in their daily and determined work. The question is threefold. First, has the performance of the NHS improved over the past six years, recovering from its two decades and more of under-investment? Secondly, is it continuing to improve, and will the recent Budget contribute towards that continuing improvement? Thirdly, what alternative policies—in particular those of the Conservative party—would underpin or undermine that improvement, which has been taking place for the benefit of the vast majority of people who depend on the NHS? That is what we must consider.

The NHS is based on the principle of equal access to health care, free at the point of need. Its comprehensiveness and fairness is admired the world over, except occasionally, perhaps, on the Opposition Benches. It is paid for out of general taxation, and to date I have seen no convincing evidence that there is a

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better way of providing equity of access for an entire nation—and the beneficiary of the NHS is this whole nation.

We are proud that the system is British in its origin, British in its originality and British in its basic principle of matching excellence with equity. The Conservative party is proposing policies that would undermine that basic principle. Let us be clear during the debate that we cannot maintain an NHS that provides equal access for all if we subsidise those who can pay to jump the queue to a position above those who cannot afford to do so. Those two aims are incompatible and contradictory. We cannot give everyone the same chance of surviving ill health if we subsidise people who can pay to jump the queue but not those who cannot. We cannot pretend to give everyone a choice if only people who can pay have that choice. Those are simple truths—[Interruption.] We will let the nation decide whether those truths are simple and clear enough, and I look forward to letting it judge support for the national health service at the election.

The Conservative policies of diverting resources away from the many who depend on the NHS, towards the few who can afford to pay for private operations, are based on a cruel and callous deceit that is disguised as a so-called passport out of the national health service. The British people do not want a national health service in which public money subsidises queue jumping, which is why we welcome the fact that the next election will be fought on the principle of equal access to health care and why the Budget underlines that principle. [Interruption.] There appears to be a fashion for becoming ill at the podium when making a speech, but I assure the House that that is not flattery in any form.

Mr. Simon Burns (West Chelmsford) (Con): Have some water for the cough.

Alistair Burt (North-East Bedfordshire) (Con) rose—

Dr. Reid: I will take a drink while the hon. Member for North-East Bedfordshire (Alistair Burt) intervenes.

Alistair Burt: I thought that I would help the right hon. Gentleman by giving him a couple of minutes. It might assist him if, instead of trying to explain Conservative policies, he left that issue to my colleagues on the Front Bench. He could then use the reduced time available to address his own policies and the deficiencies of the service over which he currently presides.

Dr. Reid: I was just trying to be helpful.

When we came to power, we encountered a national health service that had serious capacity constraints—I do not think that any Opposition Member, however critical of the Government, would deny that—and had not received adequate investment for two decades and, indeed, some would say longer. We introduced measures across the system in Budget after Budget to increase capacity, raise quality and decrease variation of quality, which are all based on an increasing number of national service frameworks. We continue to develop those frameworks, which provide clear national

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standards and identify best practice so that users, managers and professionals alike have information and guidance to improve local services, for which we set a number of targets.

Previous under-investment was chronic and disabling. We made a start in correcting that from the publication of our 10-year plan onwards, but much more was needed, which is why my right hon. Friend the Chancellor announced in his 2002 Budget historic levels of investment in the national health service. For the five years from 2003–04 to 2007–08, NHS funding in England will increase each year by an average of 7.3 per cent. in real terms—the highest increase over the longest sustained period in the history of the national health service. That investment and reform are already producing results, such as increases in capacity. We have more staff delivering health care in the NHS than ever before—over 7,300 more consultants, over 2,300 more general practitioners and over 67,500 more nurses than in 1997. That is a token of our commitment to the national health service. A vast number of people in more than 70 professions are relieving pain—day in, day out.

Mr. Kevan Jones (North Durham) (Lab): Does my right hon. Friend agree that striking examples of that investment in my constituency are the new hospital in Chester-le-Street, a new doctor's surgery in Craghead and a proposed new health centre in Stanley, which would be put at risk if the Opposition implemented their vision of cuts in public services?

Dr. Reid: Yes, indeed. Later in my speech I will deal with the Opposition's plans for a massive diversion of funds away from the national health service. My hon. Friend is correct in pointing out that we have the biggest and most sustained building programme in the history of the NHS, not only in terms of hospitals, but through the refurbishment of some 3,000 general practitioners' premises throughout England.

There have also been real increases in output: 1.7 million more patients were seen for new hospital out-patient appointments last year than in 1997, which is a 15 per cent. increase, and there were 113,000 more cataract operations than in 1997, which is a 70 per cent. increase—all ignored in the so-called productivity figures that are made up by the Opposition. There were 19,000 more knee replacement operations than in 1997, which is a 69 per cent. increase; there were 950,000 more planned hospital admissions last year than in 1997, which is a 22 per cent. increase; and of course the NHS plan target of 6,000 extra heart operations by April 2003 was achieved a year earlier.

Mr. Andrew Lansley (South Cambridgeshire) (Con): Given what the Secretary of State has said, how does he explain the fact that just a few weeks ago the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development said of the NHS:

"Productivity seems to have declined as the growth in the number of doctors, nurses, hospital buildings and equipment have (not yet) been fully reflected in a growing number of treatments. In fact, growth in the volume of health care output has slowed down compared to the first half of the 1990s"?

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