Health Bill [HL]

The amendment, jointly tabled by the noble Baronesses, Lady Barker and Lady Tonge, seeks to ensure that innovation prizes will not be funded from a topslice of existing research, training or educational budgets. The issue was raised by the noble Baroness, Lady Barker, at Second Reading. I am happy to reassure the noble Baronesses that funding for innovation prizes will be met from the overall resource envelope allocated to the Department of Health for the implementation of the commitments in the next-stage review, so it is new money as part of the next-stage review. As such, the funding available for innovation prizes—including that for administration—is all new money and will come on stream in 2010. At Second Reading, the noble Lord, Lord Turnberg— he is not in his seat—pointed out an ambiguity in the Bill’s Explanatory Notes regarding the proportion of the budget given over to administration. I am pleased to have this opportunity to put the facts on the record. The Government intend to allocate a prize fund of £5 million per year for three years from 2010, totalling £15 million. There will also be an allocation of £1 million towards the administration, spread over the three-year period. The noble Baroness, Lady Tonge, asked who the prize covers. It is open to everyone working in the health service and many honorary appointments—people working in the health service but not necessarily employed by it. We are aware of many people with university appointments who do full clinical work in the health service on honorary contracts. It is expected that the expert panel will have 10 members, consisting of leading medical scientists, people in hospital management, economists and other academic representation. The panel will recruit dedicated selection committees for each prize to undertake the initial sift of entries and put the best candidates forward for that assessment. As I said on Second Reading, we are working closely with the Academy of Medical Sciences and other stakeholders at a national level in identifying the expertise required in setting up the panel as well as its sub-committees. As I said on Second Reading, there are two types of prizes. The one in the Bill is the achievement prize, but there are also challenge prizes, which the law permits the Secretary of State to award in the form of a grant. The expert panel and the sub-committee will decide, for example, what the challenges should be in the future. We have heard numerous ideas, including how to tackle childhood obesity. The achievement prize pays towards an achievement already established or a scientific discovery that has had a huge impact on the NHS and patient care. The prizes are very different. The distinction or merit awards are personal bonuses for a clear establishment of a scientific discovery that has had a major impact on healthcare. If you look at the history of the NHS over the past 60 years, as most of us remember during the NHS 60 celebrations, there are many things we should be proud of that contributed not just to well-being and healthcare in this country but also globally. I believe that I have answered most of the issues raised. I hope that I have reassured the noble Baroness sufficiently for her to withdraw the amendment.