19 April 2002
In the wake of a National Audit Office report on the issue, members of the Commons' Public Accounts Committee grilled NHS chief executive Nigel Crisp over health authorities' ability to increase their spending from the sale of 'surplus' property.
Gerry Steinberg, Labour MP for Durham, said the situation was similar to allowing schools to sell off playing fields in the1980s – a Tory policy that was criticised for restricting schoolchildren's access to sports facilities.
Steinberg said he feared that the NHS's decisions would come back to haunt the government and asked: 'How do we know the NHS won't need this land in future?'
But Crisp said that a sensible estate management strategy was an important method of raising vital funds for the health service and that stringent checks were carried out to ensure that only unsuitable land or property was sold. 'The key point is that these assets are surplus to requirements,' he argued.
The NHS currently owns land and property valued at £23bn, with a replacement value of £76bn. Under existing arrangements, trusts are able to sell assets considered to be surplus to long-term requirements and inject the cash into frontline services such as nursing.
Geraint Davies, Labour MP for Croydon, said trust managers should avoid selling assets now because they were likely to realise a much higher value for them in future. He told Public Finance:
'It does not seem to be a sensible policy at all. The sale of nurses' accommodation, for example, flies in the face of the commitment to provide affordable housing for key workers.'
PFapr2002
