Andy Burnham MP, Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary, has written to Jeremy Hunt this evening challenging him on Tory claims on NHS spending following today’s Autumn Statement:

Dear Jeremy

FUTURE FUNDING OF THE NHS

At the weekend the Chancellor promised an additional £2 billion for the NHS. Now that we’ve seen the detail of the Autumn Statement it is clear that it is not an additional £2 billion as promised but much of it is money that is being recycled from within the Department of Health budget.

As you failed to answer a number of key questions on Monday, and as the Chancellor has failed to do so today, I am having to write to you to ask that you answer these questions in full and as a matter of urgency.

1. Given that £700 million of the £2 billion will come from recycling funds within the existing Department of Health budget, will you now set out a clear breakdown of where these cuts will fall?
2. You say that the rest of the money in 2015-16 is coming from the Reserve. Since this money is yet to be allocated, will you confirm that given other pressures on the Reserve that may emerge, there is no guarantee that this money will be spent on the NHS?
3. This money from the Reserve will only exist in 2015-16. Will you confirm that in future years the pledge is unfunded and would require cuts to other departments? If you can’t say where the money will come from people will conclude that all you are offering is one-off crisis cash in 2015/16 and not an additional £2 billion a year as promised.
4. Have you taken into account how any further reductions in social care spending will impact on increased demand on the NHS?
5. Finally, I note that the Office for Budget Responsibility has made clear that the decision to allocate this money only came at the very last minute after the deadline for inclusion in their economic forecasts. This only confirms suspicions that this is crisis cash allocated at the last minute as a sticking plaster to alleviate the pressures and problems caused by your mismanagement of the NHS. Can you set out when exactly the decision was made to allocate additional funding to the NHS?

Given all of these uncertainties there is a real danger that you have led the NHS to believe it is getting more money than you can guarantee. In contrast, Labour’s plan for the NHS is fully funded and will give the NHS £2.5 billion a year over and above the plans left by your Government.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Andy Burnham MP

Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary