To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will now take steps to ensure that the minimum permissible expiry time for any purchasing agreement between a health service purchaser and a provider will not be less than the recently announced guaranteed maximum waiting time for the respective treatment.

Under the citizens charter, health authorities will be responsible for ensuring that no resident waits more than two years for any operation, except for some special cases such as transplants. This duty will not be affected by the period of operation of any particular contract.