NHS Reorganisation

I know that the Conservative party is firmly fixed in listening mode at the moment, so if the hon. Gentleman will forgive me, I plan for him to listen just a little longer. My hon. Friend the Member for Leicester, East (Keith Vaz) asked why we have to change—why we have to adapt. Governments have been talking about the need for a shift in the balance of primary care since the 1920s. In 1976, Baroness Castle set out in ““Priorities for Health and Social Services”” her ambition to move care into the community. The truth is that over the next four years and the subsequent 18 years of Conservative Administrations, we did not achieve that shift in the balance of care. This time, we have to make sure that the shift takes place. I am happy to give my hon. Friend an assurance that the new fair funding that we have introduced will stay in the places to which it has been awarded. We have to make sure that, where appropriate, PCTs are coterminous with local authorities. We have to make sure that they are strong enough to hold GPs to account. We have to make sure that they can connect effectively with local communities because that is the only way that they will deliver on the ambitions that we set out in the White Paper.