Urgent question as Government fails to meet NHS mandate deadline
25 April 2019 (updated on 25 April 2019)
The Health Act 2012 requires the Government to publish its NHS mandate before the start of each financial year. The 2019 mandate has yet to be published.
The NHS mandate sets out funding for the NHS, as well as "the objectives [they] should seek to achieve in the exercise of its functions during that financial year".
- Watch Parliament TV: urgent question on publication of Government's mandate for the NHS
- Read Commons Hansard: urgent question on publication of Government's mandate for the NHS
The Shadow Health Secretary noted that this was the first time a government had failed to deliver the mandate on time, saying;
"We have no NHS mandate, even though it's mandatory. We have no social care green paper, even though it's been promised five times - the big issue has been ducked again. We have no workforce plan, even though we have 100,000 vacancies across the NHS and the interim plan, which should have been published today, has been delayed again."
Responding for the Government, Health Minister Stephen Hammond accused Ashworth of being "more concerned with political point scoring and process, than he is in the substance and the funding of the NHS".
Image: PA
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