After the Prime Minister’s promise of more cash for the NHS, a
new report from the Institute for Government calls for a
parliamentary inquiry into how to raise this money now – and in
the future.
Published today, How to Fix the Funding of Health and
Social Care says the Government needs to provide an
answer to one of the most politically vexed questions of our
time: how to raise the money needed for health and social
care?
The proposed extra money for the NHS – a 3.4% annual increase
over the next five years – is significant and will help stem a
further decline in standards. But this new spending will be
unsustainable unless the Government has a realistic plan for how
the money will be raised. The report dismisses the idea of a
‘Brexit dividend’ and argues that unless there is a clear way to
raise the additional money it will have to come from cuts to
other parts of public expenditure, where there is little
low-hanging fruit left to pick.
The report concludes that a parliamentary inquiry could help get
to the root of this question while building political support for
an answer. Even if the proposals were not fully implemented
before the next election, the conclusions of a cross-party
inquiry could be easily picked up by a future government of any
political leaning.
The report says that in order to succeed, a parliamentary inquiry
must:
- be set up quickly and report in time to feed into the 2019
spending review.
- include a high-profile, cross-party group of MPs and peers,
to win support for its conclusion
- be led by a select committee chair who could continue to
champion its recommendations beyond the life of the inquiry.
Nick Davies, Programme Director at the Institute for Government,
said:
“Fixing health and social care funding is critical but
implementing the tax rises which are likely to be necessary to
pay for it will be controversial. A parliamentary inquiry offers
the best hope of building sufficient political support for a
solution. There is already cross-party support for the idea. Now
it is time for the Government to act.”
The report also calls for an independent body to monitor and
scrutinise government spending on health and social care. It
argues that these functions could be placed in an existing
institution – such as the Office for Budget Responsibility – or
given to a new one. This would ensure that funding increases are
provided consistently over time, allowing for better planning and
more efficient delivery of health and social care services.
