The opponents in the House of Lords of any reform of the NHS have pursued two tactics: firstly, they have sought to delay the Bill for as long as possible and, secondly, they have raised a whole number of “straw men” of horrors and havoc that they assert would be unleashed if the NHS were to be reformed.

North Oxfordshire MP, Tony Baldry, welcomed a letter published at the weekend in a national newspaper signed by Dr Stephen Richards who leads the Oxfordshire GP Commissioning body together with 50 other GP leaders of clinical commissioning groups across the country.

In answering a question on his statement today in the House of Commons, Health Secretary Andrew Lansley MP confirmed to North Oxfordshire MP Tony Baldry that Oxfordshire GPs would be able to get on with commissioning NHS services as soon as they indicated that they were ready.

Tony Baldry (Banbury) (Con): When in government, the Labour party acknowledged that the NHS would have to make considerable efficiency savings over the next few years. My right hon. Friend the Member for Charnwood (Mr Dorrell), the Chairman of the Health Committee, has described that as the Nicholson challenge. The more I listen to speeches from Opposition Members, the more I am convinced that their opposition to the Bill is a cynical exercise. Given the Nicholson challenge, if at any time any hospital gets into difficulty, the Opposition will simply say, “That’s a consequence of the health reforms.”

Tony Baldry: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) whether the funding formula for central Government funding of GP commissioning consortia will take account of the cost of reducing health inequalities between consortia; [52086]

Tony Baldry: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the cost to the NHS in each of the next five years of financing the hospital contracts entered into under the private finance initiative in the last 15 years. [51454]

Tony Baldry (Banbury) (Con): GPs in Oxfordshire want to be catalysts for change. Collectively and collegiately, they want to be able to design NHS services for the best and optimal benefit of the people of Oxfordshire. Can my right hon. Friend confirm that this statement means that they can continue to design those services and continue to plan to have an Oxfordshire-wide GP consortium, knowing that they will be able to go forward in the future to plan the best health services for the people of Oxfordshire?

Tony Baldry (Banbury) (Con): The hon. Member for Leyton and Wanstead (John Cryer) makes his own points in his own way. Both my parents started to work for the NHS on the day it came into being: my father as a doctor and my mother as a nurse. Throughout the 60-plus years of its existence there has been enormous pride in the NHS, among those who work in it and among the community as a whole.

Tony Baldry: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has for the future funding of the nhs.net service from 2013. [43772]

Following Tony’s recent letter regarding GP Commissioning and Transition plans, please click on the link to read a copy of Lord Howe’s reply: Lord Howe 090211 re GP Commissioning and Transition plans.