Andy Burnham MP, Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary, commenting on revelations that around a dozen NHS executives who were given six figure pay offs in the government’s top-down reorganisation have been re-employed within the health service, said:

“David Cameron’s refusal to honour his promise of ‘no top-down’ re-organisation has resulted in a scandalous abuse of precious NHS resources. He has given six-figure pay-offs to thousands of managers while handing P45s to six thousand nurses. It is precisely what we warned would happen.

"These revelations leave David Cameron with serious questions to answer about both the conduct of this re-organisation and its cost. Why on earth weren’t staff who were to be retained by the NHS simply transferred to the new organisations instead of given huge pay-offs? These questions need to be answered and I will be writing to the Chair of the Public Accounts Committee to ask them to consider initiating an inquiry.”