NHS Reorganisation

I am about to mention Staffordshire, so my hon. Friend might want to hold on. The ambulance tsar, Peter Bradley, made a clear case for restructuring Avon, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire ambulance trusts, and for a revision of the Thames Valley trust. The Government took that as an excuse—it was not in the report, and at best they might claim, as a cloak, that it was implied—to reduce the number of ambulance trusts down to nine, 10 or 11. To implement that, the NHS Appointments Commission sent out letters on 30 January this year, to all MPs, I believe, asking for nominations for chairmen and chairwomen of the new NHS ambulance trusts. Do the Government think that we do not believe that the consultation is a foregone conclusion? Were the consultation genuine, money would not and should not be being spent now on the recruitment process; it is a highly questionable use of taxpayer’s money.