17. What recent representations he has received on the management and administration costs of the NHS; and if he will make a statement. (28714)

As I said to my hon. Friend the Member for Pendle (Andrew Stephenson) earlier, administration costs across the whole health sector will reduce by a third in real terms over the spending review period. This is a £1.4 billion cash reduction and a £1.9 billion real-terms reduction, from a baseline of £5.1 billion. Every penny of the savings will be reinvested in front-line services.

I am grateful to the Minister for his reply. Can he reassure my constituents in Gloucester that this is broadly the degree of savings that we should expect from NHS Gloucestershire’s expenditure on management, and that those savings will be spent on the rising demand for front-line services, including in the new, soon-to-be-opened women’s centre?

Yes, I can give my hon. Friend the assurance that he seeks. We have made it quite clear that we will reduce management costs throughout the NHS by more than 45% over the next four years, and establishing GP consortiums will allow us to strip out the costly top-down bureaucracy that now exists. All the money that will be saved through these initiatives will be reinvested in front-line services, which will benefit the constituents of my hon. Friend and those of every other right hon. and hon. Member throughout England.

I am concerned about the quality of services that patients and their families receive. In my constituency, 100 jobs are already going, and I am worried that the cuts in staffing will have an effect on the services that are available. Can the Minister guarantee that front-line services will be protected, because the reality is that, in constituencies such as mine, staffing is crucial to ensuring that decent services are available?

I have to tell the hon. Lady that, in this very difficult financial situation, which we inherited from her Government, it is only by making efficiency savings and getting rid of excess bureaucracy that we can generate the income to reinvest to save front-line services—[Interruption.] She and the Greek chorus in front of her must understand that, if we had not been left in this mess in which £43 billion a year is being spent on the interest on the debt that we inherited, we would not have the problems that we now have—

Order. I think we understand what the Minister is trying to get at.

I welcome the Minister’s responses and his firm proposals to reduce administration costs. However, it is not just a matter of management costs rising massively under the last Government, as productivity fell. The last time productivity increased in the NHS was under the last Conservative Government in the early 1990s. What plans do the Government have to ensure that productivity is increased, because only by doing can we deliver better health?

Let us have the answer.

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. Although the last Government significantly increased health spending —I do not dispute that; it is a self-evident fact—the trouble is that we did not see increases in productivity pro rata. That is the challenge that we face; that is what we are addressing; that is what we are going to achieve through QIPP—quality, innovation, productivity and prevention—by cutting out inefficiency, cutting out excess management and administration so that every single penny can be reinvested in improving front-line services and giving our constituents the finest health they—

Order. The Minister will resume his seat. His answers have been excessively long-winded and repetitive—and it must not happen again. I have made the position clear and I hope that the Minister will learn from that.