Milburn: Action to cut red tape

Health minister promises action on PFI red tape.

He has pledged to take action to streamline PFI red tape, criticising a system where trusts have to spend public money on consultancy fees. The problem has hit particularly hard, he said, in areas of the country relying heavily on the PFI for the provision of future NHS services.

Mr Milburn said: "The Tories mishandling of the PFI in the NHS has cost a small fortune. Not one major hospital has been built through PFI, yet taxpayers have footed a vast consultancy bill. The Government is committed to making PFI work so that new hospitals get built. By cutting PFI red tape, we will get NHS cash spent on patient services, not on exorbitant advisors fees."

The NHS (Private Finance) Bill, currently going through Parliament, will remove legal obstacles preventing deals from being closed. "We are considering ways of providing advice from the Department of Health to enable trusts to handle PFI deals without employing external advisers to cover ground already covered in other parts of the NHS. There should be no more reinventing the wheel."

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