![]() ![]() ![]() The Care Quality Commission, the sector’s regulator, would be given pow- ers to require state-funded providers to maintain a “safe” level of reserves to ensure financial stability, Streeting said. Private equity-run care homes will be stripped of public sector contracts by a Labour government if they fail to meet quality and value-for-money standards, shadow health and social care secretary Wes Streeting has said. ![]() ![]() “He said that smart governments should nick the best ideas of their oppo- nents. He threw down a pre -Budget gauntlet to chancellor Jeremy Hunt who, when chair of the health committee, had lauded Labour’s workforce plan. The party has also pledged to double the number of district nurses qualifying and to train 5,000 more health visitors, at a cost of £1.6bn to be funded through the abolition of non-dom tax status. He affirmed La bour’s commitment to double the number of medical school places, and to increase nursing and mid- wifery clinical training places by 10,000 a year. Streeting branded the lack of funding for domestic students as “crazy”, adding that the government had threatened to fine universities for recruiting students beyond the capped number. International medical students will be charged an annual fee of around £45,000. As a result, the NHS and a charity have clubbed together to fund places for 20 UK stu- dents at the university. A Treasury cap on medical places means that Worcester, along with some other schools, receives no government funding for trainee doctors. “But where we see people taking the mick and, frankly, leeching money from the taxpayer, as I think some pri- vate equity-owned care providers are, we’re going to clamp down on that.” Speaking at Worcester university where a medical school is being built, Streeting criticised the government for failing to supply enough clinical training places. “I don’t subscribe to the view that public equals good, private equals bad,” he said. Streeting has taken a more pragmatic stance than some of his predecessors towards the role of the private sector, endorsing the use of private hospitals as a short-term measure to reduce NHS waiting lists. Ties this can create, two large private equity-backed providers have gone into administration in recent years: South- ern Cross in 2011 and Four Seasons in 2019. Neither combined authority com- mented on the contents of their deal. The West Midlands Combined Authority also told central government it was open to further scrutiny, such as “a regional ‘public accounts committee’, including regional MPs”. People familiar with the devolution deal for Greater Manchester said Burn- ham had recently written to the govern- ment expressing support for further accountability structures, such as a regional committee. Bolton West Conservative MP Chris Green said it was essential that “in a democracy, people know who is responsible for what and how they can be held to account”. The increased scrutiny follows heavy lobbying by Conservative MPs in Greater Manchester, who comprise just under a third of the region’s parliamen- tarians. It is unclear whether the new committees will meet locally or in Westminster. In return for greater devolution, the two mayors will face quarterly panels of local MPs, similar to the House of Com- mons’ committees. In Greater Manchester, Labour mayor Andy Burnham is also expected to receive £150mn in funding to help pre- pare brownfield land for thousands of new homes, as well as a commitment to integrate regional rail services with locally controlled tram and bus net- works - mirroring London’s system - by 2030. The deals are expected to include decentralised fund- ing blocks for the two city regions. The extra layer of accountability is part of beefed-up devolution deals for Greater Manchester and the West Mid- lands, due to be announced in today’s Budget, according to five people famil- iar with the agreements. ![]()
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