The inflow of foreign funds last week triggered off investment into gilts in the United Kingdom and saved the Government from a Funding Crisis that was extremely worrying when we discussed these matters last Wednesday.

This is a measure of the Funding Crisis that we face in this sector.

There will be a Real Funding Crisis in the system unless we realise the interrelationship between employment and policies that create full employment and the present position.

I welcome the debate, but I repeat what I said at the beginning: it must not be considered a substitute for a proper and full debate on the Crisis in the Funding of the arts.

That is the background to the Crisis of Funding facing the public sector in 1987–88.

The continuing and consistent Crisis of Funding in the Royal Navy has been created in large measure by the Government's commitment to Trident.

Is the Chancellor aware that these proposals will not go far enough to counteract the effect of the stock exchange falls, still less to deal with the Funding Crisis in the National Health Service, schools and universities?

The chairman of the regional health authority has publicly admitted that community-based services for the mentally handicapped and mentally ill have been casualties of This Funding Crisis in Birmingham, but it does not end there.

The firstdeplores the closure of 590 acute beds in inner London and a total of 1,000 hospital acute beds across London since May 1987, and the Crisis of Funding imposed by cash limits on London's health service which will result in increased suffering and hardship for Londoner".

Can we look forward to, for instance, the announcement of further funds which are essential if hospitals are to clear the £70 million-worth of deficits which still remain in this financial year and which must be lifted if the next financial year is not to begin with another under-Funding Crisis in the NHS?

urges Her Majesty's Government to take additional action to reduce unemployment and to strengthen Britain's productive and competitive performance; condemns the Government's antipathy towards public expenditure on vital community services; and in particular calls on Her Majesty's Government to recognise the strength of the evidence to two Select Committees and from the health care professions that the National Health Service is inadequately resourced, and to make extra provision in the Budget to end the Funding Crisis faced by the National Health Service and hospitals in particular".

I beg to move, to leave out from "House" to the end of the Question and to add instead thereof:deplores the under-investment in areas vital to the future of Britain which results from the public expenditure plans; urges Her Majesty's Government to take additional action to reduce unemployment and to strengthen Britain's productive and competitive performance; condemns the Government's antipathy towards public expenditure on vital community services; and in particular calls on Her Majesty's Government to recognise the strength of the evidence to two Select Committees and from the health care professions that the National Health Service is inadequately resourced, and to make extra provision in the Budget to end the Funding Crisis faced by the National Health Service and hospitals in particular.

In particular, we call upon the Government to take note of the evidence, from two Select Committees and from health care professionals, that the NHS is inadequately funded and that they should make extra provision in the Budget to end the Funding Crisis faced by our Health Service and especially by our hospitals.

These clauses should be considered alongside the Funding Crisis in the Health National Service, which is recognised everywhere in society with the exception of 10 Downing street.

I am introducing a brief debate on the Funding Crisis facing the voluntary sector in the city of Bradford.

Why have the Government refused to accept responsibility for funding the projects when the Government alone are responsible for the Funding Crisis that threatens the projects' existence?

Although the review arose from the Funding Crisis in the NHS of 1987–88, the White Paper says little, if anything, about money.

Is he aware that many projects in my constituency and in many others are being hit by the Funding Crisis?

and notes that the public legal services are in a serious state of collapse, in particular in respect of the legal aid system, the duty solicitors' scheme, the Funding Crisis of law centres and the failure of the Government to make progress on the issue of family courts.

Does the Minister believe that he should call a meeting urgently with the chairmen of the Welsh health authorities and with Mid Glamorgan in particular, because there is a Serious Funding Crisis in the Health Service?

That has all been put at risk because of the Funding Crisis now affecting the Haymarket theatre.

The plea by the hon. Member for Billericay (Mrs. Gorman) for better menopausal facilities in Wales may be laudable, but does the Minister agree that our health authorities are faced with a Funding Crisis and that there is pressure on them to close wards and whole hospitals?

Why do not the Government abolish the pointless office and use the considerable sum saved to ease the Funding Crisis that faces industrial tribunals?

Will the Secretary of State launch an urgent investigation into the Funding Crisis gripping the national health service in Bradford?

I welcome the opportunity to debate the Funding Crisis in the NHS and to press on the Minister the demand that is being made throughout Britain and on both sides of the House for beds that have been closed to be opened and for an end to the cancellation of operations and out-patients' appointments.

To talk of a Funding Crisis, as the hon. Member for Peckham (Ms. Harman) has done, is to prompt the question: how much worse would the position be if Labour had remained in office, increasing funds at the rate that it was able to achieve?

Does the Minister accept that a market solution is quite inappropriate for this part of higher education and that there is a Crisis in the Funding of fundamental research in our higher education institutions, particularly in Scottish universities?

The Funding Crisis in the national health service has provided the political opportunity to apply these so-called theories to the health services, in spite of the fact that public opinion in poll after poll has shown itself dogmatically opposed to such changes.

That review was initiated prior to the Funding Crisis becoming apparent, and certainly prior to any decisions being taken by the council about the funding crisis.

Whatever view one takes of the Government's overall funding of science and, in particular, the latest allocations announced to the science budget generally and to individual research councils, there can be no dispute about the Funding Crisis at SERC.

In 1986, when the GLC was abolished and a Funding Crisis resulted, an arrangement was reached for Sadler's Wells to receive, albeit indirectly, - 100,000 in funding from the Arts Council in the first year.

The Minister must be aware that there is a real Crisis of Funding in the London arts - in large measure due to the overall financial squeeze that has been placed both by the Government and by the Tory boroughs on the London boroughs grants committee on the funding of voluntary bodies and arts organisations in the capital.

Does he also accept that there is a Crisis in the Funding of science in the universities, and in particular in fundamental physics and mathematics research?

Whether local authorities are Conservative, Labour, Scottish National party, Liberal Democrat or Plaid Cymru, in the length and breadth of Britain there is a major Crisis in the Funding of local government.

The Funding Crisis involves a current overspend of about £900,000.

Is not the real reason why the Government are so insensitive to the Funding Crisis m state schools that the great majority of Conservative Members send their children to private schools - public schools - and find their way around the difficulties that exist in the public sector?

It is the so-called "leisure" courses, such as tap dancing and yoga, which arc the first to go when there is a Funding Crisis, and many such courses have already gone.

Drug and alcohol centres face an Immediate Funding Crisis.

I think that that is because the hon. Gentleman must partly share the Government's guilt in that he has sought to support and sustain Government economic policies which clearly aggravate the existing Crisis in the Funding of London's transport.

What advice will the Secretary of State give to the thousands of parents in Essex who have received letters from their children's headteachers saying that their schools are facing a Funding Crisis and that they do not have enough resources to fulfil the requirements of the national curriculum, particularly in respect of books, equipment and, in some cases, teachers?

I know, for example, that Refuge - an organisation that has done a tremendous amount of work - has a Funding Crisis.

The Funding Crisis of 1993 is the funding crisis that did not occur because there was confidence in the Government's medium-term policies in the markets.

The alternative to such fiscal responsibility would either have been punished by the markets, if the level of unchecked borrowing had brought on a Funding Crisis, which would have been the worst possible outcome, or, in less dramatic circumstances, would have led to the monetisation of public debt - in other words, another bout of severe inflation.

It is worth repeating here the Committee's concern thatif the Government waits until a Funding Crisis arrives, any action it then takes may be too late.

On Thursday 9 February, Clare Spottiswoode's rejection of the vast majority of the Energy Saving Trust's latest proposals confirmed the continuing Funding Crisis.

Does she realise that removing surplus places takes at least two years and is certainly no answer to the Funding Crisis that our schools face now?

Is the Secretary of State aware of the gravity of the Crisis in the Funding of repairs and refurbishment of rundown and deprived estates in many of our cities, and that, in the London borough of Brent, which is Tory-controlled, so desperate is the crisis of the lack of investment that the council proposes to tear down desperately needed homes on the Chalkhill estate to build a supermarket, which is not needed, to fund a new development on that estate?

Is it not absurd that major arts organisations in Scotland such as Scottish Opera and Glasgow Citizens Theatre should face a Major Funding Crisis at a time when so much money is coming into the lottery and is available to the arts?

Given the grim picture for public expenditure next year, do not we face a Serious Funding Crisis in the fire service?

Is he also aware that, within the past two years, the chief fire officer commented on the serious possibility of a Funding Crisis for fire authorities throughout the country?

First, it gives us the assurance that the public expenditure plan set out in the Red Book this year can be followed through without a Funding Crisis, which was so often the experience of Labour Governments.

If the Chancellor had followed the advice of my hon. Friend the Member for Bridlington, we would have had a Funding Crisis, higher interest rates and possibly a cut in public expenditure - although that would have happened much later.

Would it not be wise to have a full debate on the Funding Crisis facing both higher and further education, as more and more further education colleges are also in significant financial difficulty?

Does the Minister accept that while a fundamental review of the funding of higher education is welcome and overdue, action must be taken now to deal with the Funding Crisis which has caused universities even to consider top-up tuition fees?

The Bristol Evening Post editorial, on 22 February, sums up very well the problems in Bristol - although the Funding Crisis is not unique to Bristol.

The Funding Crisis is going to pose huge difficulties for frail elderly people, those with special needs and children of 16, 17 and 18 years old who come out of care homes and need to be housed in the community.

The Funding Crisis, allied to resentment by teachers because of their excessive work load, are badly affecting the five-to-14 programme and "Higher Still".

On the future of hospital services throughout Northern Ireland, is the Minister aware that the further cuts of £31 million in health budgets have exacerbated the Funding Crisis that already confronts them, and are likely to lead to deeper cuts in acute services - so much so that the trust managers and health boards have been obliged to call emergency meetings to discuss where the axe will fall?

When I opened the debate, I referred to what I believe to be the crux of the Funding Crisis - the impact of the closure of the Cambridge military hospital on the North and Mid-Hampshire health authority.

First, the education and library boards face a Funding Crisis that is affecting the quality of the education of the children of Northern Ireland.

Has not the Committee of Scottish Higher Education Principals warned the Government that there is a Funding Crisis in Scottish universities?

Does the Minister accept that the excellent reputation of Scottish universities attracts many students from Northern Ireland, which is why my right hon. and hon. Friends who represent Northern Ireland constituencies are concerned about any Crisis in Funding for Scottish universities?

However, I must say that I am becoming alarmed at the direction of events and the likely consequences of the Funding Crisis - that is no overstatement - that is now affecting the Ceredigion and Mid-Wales hospital trust.

The review is the outcome of a Funding Crisis that the health authority has for the moment.

I welcome the opportunity to talk about the Funding Crisis facing the city of Bristol.

On 10 January, there was a conference at the Council house in Bristol to enable the city council to explain to representatives from different sectors of the community the depth of the Funding Crisis facing the city.

Will the Leader of the House respond to a request already made, to make time available to discuss the Crisis of Funding in further education?

It is clear that Oxfordshire health authority has a Funding Crisis, which means that it has a service crisis.

We agreed on the need to develop the UN's ability to prevent and resolve conflict, and we all recognised the need to solve the UN's Funding Crisis as soon as possible.

President Clinton is personally committed to resolving the Funding Crisis and it has helped enormously that the new Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, has made such a good and promising start in the reforms that he is making to the United Nations secretariat and the way in which it works.

However, SEPA's initial success in getting its work up and running, and in building a fully integrated agency, is threatened by a Funding Crisis that will prevent any truly proactive work.

Has the role of the United Nations in international mine clearance operations been diminished by the Funding Crisis that is bedevilling that organisation?

The Funding Crisis that we are left with has many graphic examples.

As the hon. Member for Angus (Mr. Welsh) rightly pointed out, the Bill does nothing for our universities, which are experiencing a Funding Crisis.

In the summer, shortly after their election, the Government found for the first time, not surprisingly, that they faced a Funding Crisis in the national health service.

I beg to move, To leave out from "House" to the end of the Question, and to add instead thereof:welcomes the decisive response of Her Majesty's Government to the report of the National Committee of Enquiry into Higher Education and to the Crisis of Funding in higher education bequeathed by the previous administration; notes with approval the new arrangements for supporting students, including fair repayment arrangements and targeted help for the most disadvantaged; and welcomes the commitment to ensuring that more people will have opportunities to participate in high-quality education to their benefit and to the benefit of the country as a whole.

Had the Government simply spent a short time working out how to unlock the value in that student loan book, they could have solved the Immediate Funding Crisis at a single stroke and avoided this rush into a hasty judgment.

Had the Government made some modest changes to overcome the Immediate Funding Crisis, they would have had the time that they need.

The Conservative Government set up the Dearing inquiry because they had created a Funding Crisis in higher education.

It is no good for the Opposition to applaud themselves on the recent expansion of higher education when their 18 years in government left behind a system with a £2 billion Funding Crisis and an artificial cap on its expansion and without a breakthrough in the spread of benefits that could have transformed our society and the life chances of our young people.

Even though he was a Member of Parliament for most of the 18 years during which the Tories were in power, he made no attempt to explain why the Funding Crisis in higher education that the Dearing committee was set up to address even exists.

Universities face a Crisis in Funding for research, infrastructure and equipment, for which £400 million to £500 million is required.

We have inherited from the previous Government a Crisis of Funding across the board: in health, education, housing and pensions.

The issue of resources for the Metropolitan police is not just a Funding Crisis - it is a specific issue for London Members.

He is no doubt proposing that as a solution to the Funding Crisis in higher education, rather than attempting to find the money to carry on funding higher education, so that more people - particularly those from less privileged backgrounds - have the opportunity to get the higher education that they deserve.

Does he agree that the proposals will do nothing to improve the Funding Crisis left by the previous Government because of the failure to passport the additional money from student fees to higher education, and that we shall end up with a higher education system that has two tiers - ivy league universities and bargain basement universities?

The Dearing committee was set up to do three principal things: to resolve the huge Funding Crisis in higher education caused by the 40 per cent.

So the proposed solution will not address the Funding Crisis in our universities.

While I disagree with the hon. Gentleman about polytechnics and their move to university status, I accept the majority of his remarks about the demise of our universities because of the Funding Crisis that they face.

Obviously, the Government are not serious about tackling the Funding Crisis within higher education, because they refuse to meet Dearing's recommendation of an extra £350 million this year and £565 million next year.

believes that local education authorities require significantly increased levels of capital and revenue resources to address the Funding Crisis in United Kingdom schools; and further believes that the Government should censure the Chief Inspector of Schools and ask him to consider his position.

[That this House notes with great concern the comments of the Chief Inspector of Schools who in a speech to the right wing think-tank Politeia claimed there was no evidence that schools are underfunded and further claimed that teachers were wasting too much time in meaningless activities; believes that local education authorities require significantly increased levels of capital and revenue resources to address the Funding Crisis in United Kingdom schools; and further believes that the Government should censure the Chief Inspector of Schools and ask him to consider his position.

The £7 million to which my hon. Friend refers, if properly reflected in the formula, would solve the Immediate Funding Crisis.

The £7 million to which my hon. Friend refers, if properly reflected in the formula, would solve the immediate Funding Crisis.

We believe that the proposals represent the best way of resolving the current Crisis in Funding.

Does the Minister not realise that the Government's attack on grant-maintained schools has created nothing short of a Crisis in the Funding of the GM sector?

My right hon. Friend the Member for South-West Surrey (Mrs. Bottomley) and my hon. Friends the Members for Spelthorne (Mr. Wilshire) and for Bosworth (Mr. Tredinnick) gave a cameo of the position in many parts of the country: a Funding Crisis, services being cut and dissatisfaction among professionals and patients alike.

The noble Lord, Lord Baker of Dorking, said that the universities face a serious Crisis in Funding.

When will the Home Secretary face up to the reality of the Worst Funding Crisis for our police service in living memory?

There has been much talk of a Crisis in Funding.

Many recommendations have been made in the debate as to how the Funding Crisis--the mismatch of funds to demand--could be solved.

The south-west has been facing a Funding Crisis in flood defence.

The heading states, "Labour 'at fault' over Funding Crisis in Wales".

As for the hon. Gentleman's question on the alleged Crisis in Funding for acquisitions, I should remind him that funding levels are very much what they were when the previous, Conservative Government left office.

In particular, will she comment on the fact that Labour-controlled Walsall council has engendered a Funding Crisis, resulting in swimming pools being closed?

and the total absence of any acknowledgement of the huge resource implications of the Bill or of the Crisis in Funding of social care provision, which in many areas of the country makes the Bill's worthy objectives look like distant aspirations.

Towering above and beyond those concerns are two overarching flaws in the Bill - the excessive use of regulations and ministerial statements of standards, which renders the Bill a virtually empty box, not amenable to proper scrutiny or analysis; and the total absence of any acknowledgement of the huge resource implications of the Bill or of the Crisis in Funding of social care provision, which in many areas of the country makes the Bill's worthy objectives look like distant aspirations.

The Funding Crisis, to which a number of noble Lords have referred, is, I believe, partly a consequence of the pressures of funding the growth in the past and the desire to continue to fund growth in the future.

Unless the Government can address the Funding Crisis, dentists will continue to leave the NHS for the private sector.

The only things which are clear from the Government's handling of the sell-off of NATs is that, four years on, the delay in finding a solution to the Funding Crisis has not so far been helpful or beneficial to the industry; and concerns within the industry, the Labour Party and the House at large have not been fully addressed.

There is also a Funding Crisis.

Does he not recognise the growing Funding Crisis that is affecting our regional tourist boards?

Sadly, that serves as a further reminder of the Funding Crisis to which I referred earlier.

There was, in short, a Crisis in Funding.

There is a Real Funding Crisis in our universities and they cannot be expected to bear the additional burden of bailing out the Government on student support.

How is it possible, when a Funding Crisis hits a charity that covers England and Wales, for one arm of the organisation to be chopped off?

Does the Leader of the House recall that the Minister responding to the recent social care debate said that she would investigate the allegation by the 15 social services departments in the south-west that the Funding Crisis is so severe that they have to divert money from care of the elderly to prop up child care and child protection?

To put the problem in a sound bite - I must because time is running short, and my hon. Friends must have their bites too - we have a Funding Crisis in social services with cuts being made, charges going up and services being cut back.

Pensions are in a Funding Crisis, much of which is the result of bad policies at No.

The disparity is that we value our investment in pension funds in a way different from that of most of our European colleagues and there is a Serious Funding Crisis in the UK.

They explained that there was a Funding Crisis in social services, and in detailed and fairly graphic terms they described the effect that it was having on elderly people in the county.

However, what I have seen of the work of Kew leads me to the view - which is very much supported in the sub-committee's report - that there is a Crisis of Funding for that work.

I cannot mention social services without making a brief reference to the Funding Crisis that Oxfordshire faces.

Another problem in Bridgwater - it applies to the whole of Somerset - is that the mental health department in the county wants to lay off between 45 and 50 people this year because of a Funding Crisis.

Indeed, the museum now faces a Funding Crisis involving a £6.

It is clear that, whatever solution is found to the Funding Crisis in our universities, public funding will remain at the core of the financial health of the higher education sector.

I am pleased, like many other noble Lords, that there is now an acceptance by the Government that universities are in a Funding Crisis.

The Crisis in Funding was recognised at the time of the last general election, but both major political parties chose to kick the issue into touch via the Dearing inquiry.

Given the Funding Crisis in the university sector, does he accept that top-up fees could have a perverse effect, as students might avoid the institutions that are charging higher fees?

] Yes, three days ago, the right hon. Gentleman said: Xwe have a Crisis of Funding for higher education".

There is no doubt that there is a Major Funding Crisis in higher education that the Government must address.

There is no doubt that there is a major Funding Crisis in higher education that the Government must address.

I also feel strongly, however, that not just graduates should bridge the Current Funding Crisis in higher education; the Government have a responsibility to play their part.

Either way, intervention by her in This Funding Crisis would be appreciated.

The most important element of the White Paper is that, for the first time, it gives government recognition to the fact that there is indeed a Funding Crisis in our universities and, unless something is done about it, the system will slide into mediocrity.

The Government are increasing expenditure on HE institutions by 6 per cent - several times above the level of inflation - to help to meet what noble Lords on all sides of the House recognise as the Funding Crisis in higher education.

What was in the Budget was inadequate; it left out any attempt to deal with the growing Funding Crisis in our schools.

Already, the National Union of Teachers has refused to sign it, but now, because of the Funding Crisis precipitated by this Government and this Chancellor, the National Association of Head Teachers is threatening to pull out as well.

Last week its general secretary, David Hart, wrote to the Secretary of State saying "It would not be an exaggeration to say that there is an unmanageable Crisis in Funding in a number of areas.

The work load agreement is crumbling and schools face the Worst Funding Crisis for years.

You will be aware, Mr. Deputy Speaker, that there is a Crisis in Funding for education in Leicestershire.

The Minister for School Standards is sitting on the Government Front Bench, but my right hon. Friend has not mentioned the impact on areas that face substantial new housing of the Funding Crisis that is forcing many local schools to make teachers redundant.

If the Government must make the announcement on Friday because it cannot wait till Monday, they are admitting that there is a huge Crisis in the Funding of our schools.

The hon. Gentleman will be aware that this year almost 100 teacher redundancies have been proposed in Bournemouth, Poole and the rest of Dorset as a result of the Funding Crisis affecting schools.

First, I do not want to rehearse all the arguments about the situation facing our local schools, but redundancies will not be the only practical consequence of the Present Funding Crisis, of which the Minister is well aware.

increase, yet on the other, in my constituency and many others, schools face a Real Funding Crisis.

Too much tax, too much regulation, too much centralisation and too much bureaucracy are leading to a Funding Crisis in our schools, the closure of police stations and courts and threats to community pharmacies and to post offices, urban as well as rural.

The Funding Crisis of the Government's making is the grossest betrayal of everything that they stood for in 1997 when they promised that "education, education, education" would be their three priorities.

She has made it clear why the Funding Crisis is afflicting our schools.

Perhaps the Minister could explain to the House why the Funding Crisis in schools and the missing £500 million, which he tells us he is looking for, have taken so long to become apparent to the Government.

People are concerned about their council taxes escalating and local schools facing a Funding Crisis.

My Lords, I am extremely grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Hanningfield, for giving your Lordships' House the opportunity to debate what has manifestly become a Crisis in the Funding of schools.

I do not wish to make a political issue of that, but I think that means that noble Lords from those Benches either do not appreciate that there is a dire Crisis in the Funding of schools, or accept it and feel that they can do nothing more.

The Autistic Society, whose Autism Awareness Week is next week, states in its most recent press release: "the Present Funding Crisis facing UK schools is causing serious concern".

regrets that the jobs of teachers, teaching assistants and other support staff have been put at risk; further regrets that these teacher redundancies, together with other cut backs imposed by the Funding Crisis, will have a negative impact on the education of school children; notes that Labour councils have been as badly affected as Conservative councils by the funding crisis; condemns the Government for seeking to blame local authorities for this crisis; further notes the statements of head teachers and governors across England who no longer trust the Government's ability to administer school funding; recognises the impact of the funding crisis on the Government's teacher workload agreement; believes that the Government's flawed reforms of school funding are to blame for the crisis; and calls on the Government to simplify the school funding system, giving more money direct to schools and giving head teachers more control over how to spend that money.

It is not just that the Government have fundamentally mismanaged the Funding Crisis.

The Funding Crisis is so bad that, in my constituency, the head teacher of the Bollin primary school, Mrs. Marilyn Downs, and a colleague have been pushed to the point where they are prepared even to jump out of an aircraft to raise sponsorship for their school's core budget.

Will he admit that it will have no impact on the school Funding Crisis that his Department has created, and will be of no comfort to head teachers faced with budget cuts?

I was here last Thursday; I listened to the debate very carefully, and the right hon. Gentleman could not give Norfolk any real guarantee that there would be a way out of This Funding Crisis.

The Secretary of State just sought to rubbish the survey in The Times this morning, which suggested that there will be 3,000 teacher redundancies as a result of the Government's Funding Crisis in schools.

The Secretary of State seems to be admitting that some teachers at least will be made redundant as a result of the Funding Crisis.

However, pretty much every school in my constituency is facing a Funding Crisis.

The estimates show that at least 800 teachers face the sack as a direct result of the Funding Crisis.

Is he aware that it is persistent in the London borough of Bromley and that it was made worse recently when we learned that the number of additional police officers we were expecting this year has been halved due to what is called a Funding Crisis in the Metropolitan police?

I agree with the noble Baroness, but I am not sure that I understand what is being said about a Funding Crisis.

A virtuous circle has restarted thanks to the Government's Funding Crisis.

The problem has been aggravated with this year's Funding Crisis.

In 1997 our universities suffered a Funding Crisis following year-on-year cuts by the Conservative Government.

Throughout the country they are facing a Funding Crisis.

The petition was promoted by Jacob Waters, aged 12, after watching his head teacher on television talking about the Funding Crisis in his and other Poole schools.

However, I am very concerned that unless we do something dramatic to tackle the Funding Crisis this year and in future, the prospects for our being able to continue to maintain that improvement year on year will become remote.

The Conservative group on the Local Government Association, which is now the majority group, has been surveying local education authorities and has received some worrying replies on the Current Funding Crisis.

The Department for Transport, in particular, needs to be aware of a developing Funding Crisis that is facing community transport not only in Norfolk but across the country.

The Countryside Agency itself appears to be in something of a Funding Crisis.

The Government will not be forgiven by parents and teachers for failing to cope with this year's Funding Crisis.

I wish to present a petition on behalf of schools throughout Somerset that are desperately concerned about not only the Funding Crisis this year, but the chronic under-funding of Somerset schools.

I beg to move, That this House notes that thousands of teaching posts have been lost in schools as a result of this year's Funding Crisis; condemns the Government for failing to respond early enough to reports of these redundancies, instead seeking to lay the blame on local authorities; further condemns the Government for not using any of the Department for Education and Skills' underspent money to alleviate this crisis; further notes that schools are having to ask parents for regular contributions to alleviate cash shortages; is concerned about the effect of these redundancies among teachers and support staff on the implementation of the Workload Agreement; and urges the Government to simplify the funding system for schools so that there will be no repeat of this year's problems in the recruitment and retention of teachers.

This year's Funding Crisis in the education system has led to what one head teacher calls "far and away the worst situation I have ever had to manage".

All schools in the area have been affected by the Funding Crisis, with many going into debt, and all having to reduce spending significantly".

Does he recognise that the problems have been made much worse by the Funding Crisis that has led to the loss of 2,500 teaching posts purely because the Department has been staggeringly incompetent in spending its money?

Will the Minister guarantee to those schools whose budgets are now in deficit as a result of the Funding Crisis that their applications for specialist status will not be turned down because of the Government's criterion which states that they have to show prudent financial management?

Secondly, while on the one hand the hon. Gentleman says that the schools are getting too much money, on the other he says that the money is what is causing the Funding Crisis.

The amendment, which we will not oppose, tries to deal with a problem that the Government have made for themselves in a number of areas, not only by taking the power to set minimum budgets but by the way in which they approached last year's local government finance settlement and failed to deal with the school Funding Crisis that we saw as a result of that settlement.

But at this point in this year's Funding Crisis, the Minister must surely acknowledge that nearly all of that money was taken out again through increases in taxation, and through changes in the standards fund and in the pension arrangements.

First, we need to review and speed up the works on the west coast main line, and given the current Crisis in Funding, we need new innovative ways to do that.

The Department has made those changes against the backdrop of this year's Funding Crisis, which has left many schools with a budget deficit from which to deal with expanding costs.

At that point, therefore, it looked as though Sport England's representative was in effect signing up to getting the stage 2 permission when the Funding Crisis hit.

The House will know that this year Sport England experienced a Funding Crisis and had to review lottery funding.

If the Minister wants to avert what will undoubtedly be a Serious Funding Crisis, it would help if those schemes could be made simpler, but it would also be helpful to trust local constabularies to run schemes that will suit the problems and conditions on the ground.

I hope that we do not see a repeat of this year's Funding Crisis in schools, but I fear that we will.

When he looks back at his 12 months in the job, I am sure he will agree that coming to the House to try to rectify the school Funding Crisis caused by his Government should not be a necessary duty for him.

As I said earlier, we have allowed ourselves to fall into the trap of engaging in a managerial or technocratic debate on a Funding Crisis without first engaging the nation in a debate about why higher education constitutes a tool for social change and a modernised Britain.

They have also listened to what this House has been saying about the urgent need to find a solution to the university Funding Crisis.

That is not happening, despite the best endeavours of social services departments, which are facing a Crisis in Funding.

The reality is that, for many years, fire authorities have been pressing the Government for intervention to assist them with Their Funding Crisis.

How will they solve the Funding Crisis in the long term?

We accept the need to resolve the Funding Crisis in our universities after two decades of chronic under-funding.

We had a telling contribution from the noble Lord, Lord Laming, who expressed his continued support and affection for local democracy, given all of his experience in local government, but pointing us towards something of a Funding Crisis.

By depriving the hospitals of volume, we shall create a system whereby the Funding Crisis for those that buy into services within hospital trusts will become more difficult.

I believe that the Government still fail to recognise the problems caused by the Funding Crisis of 2003–04, which has continued into the following year.

The Department for Education and Skills has acknowledged its responsibility for the Funding Crisis of 2003–04, but it concedes only to having moved too fast in its reforms, which gives us no real hope of change, especially in the hard-pressed local authority.

In response to last year's Funding Crisis in schools, the Minister urged schools to spend their capital funding and their reserves.

Adult hospices are funded poorly, but children's hospices are in a Funding Crisis.

Schools and parents will view the Chancellor's remarks in the light of their experience of last year's Funding Crisis.

The Crisis in Funding was a setback in the considerable progress made by this Government, resulting in demoralisation for many teachers and head teachers while childish squabbling went on nationally.

He highlighted two aspects of the matter: its historical background - he set out a macro-picture of the cause of the current school Funding Crisis; and the impact of that crisis on the quality of education, which he eloquently described, with particular reference to schools in his constituency and the decisions that they are taking about funding and teacher recruitment.

The paper concluded: "ministers have largely succeeded in avoiding a repeat of last year's Funding Crisis .

The Minister is telling schools across the country that they are not only faced with the hangover from last year's Funding Crisis - some schools have deficit budgets, some have spent their reserves - and the possibility of redundancies in September, but that the £55,000 referred to by the Chancellor will not bail out their next year's budget because it is a restatement of money that we already knew existed.

The first is that many more people will have the opportunity to go to university than would be the case if the Government took no steps to address the Funding Crisis in higher education.

The Government face a situation where the universities now have a Funding Crisis.

Even if the full £1 billion that is seen to be available percolated through to the universities, we would almost immediately restart the debate on the Funding Crisis in higher education.

Will he confirm that Labour's only answer to the growing Funding Crisis in universities is to force students to run up bigger and bigger debts?

It is well known that while we recognise the need to address the Funding Crisis in universities, the level of student debt that the Bill will effect is of great concern to us.

Last year's Funding Crisis was caused by the extra costs of inflation, the teachers' pay award, national insurance and pension contributions, and the additional administrative duties taken over by classroom assistants.

If the Government have increased funding to local authorities as the Prime Minister has just claimed, why are the schools in Bournemouth and throughout the county of Dorset facing a Funding Crisis for the second year running that is causing head teachers to make their staff redundant and to appeal to parents to come forward with extra money?

The National Union of Students has described the Conservatives' policy as "a regressive response to the Funding Crisis in higher education", and the Association of University Teachers has said that it "could prove a disaster" and that it is "highly regressive".

The discretionary element of many LEA school transport budgets was squeezed last year following the Funding Crisis, and it is likely to disappear altogether when the new charging arrangements are introduced.

Given the nature of the Crisis in Funding across English cathedrals of all denominations, is the hon. Gentleman willing to convene a meeting with a Minister from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, somebody from the Heritage Lottery Fund, and representatives of the cathedrals to assess and agree the cost of the work that needs to be done, and then to find a better means of raising the money to do it?

When we had the Funding Crisis, it wept and said, "Oh dear, we do not have details of every school in this country".

The Funding Crisis was not phoney; indeed, in Essex there was a very severe crisis because of the change from SSA to FSS, and a large number of schools had to throw in all their reserves in one go so as not to set deficit budgets.

No doubt my hon. Friend and others would not mind seeing their contribution doubled if it had a Funding Crisis.

The desperate situation has been caused by a Funding Crisis and because most acute emergencies are brought into one hospital.

The desperate situation has been caused by a Funding Crisis and because all acute cases are brought into one hospital.

That is simply not the case, and I shall tell the Minister about the result of the Funding Crisis in Southend.

Although my secondary education at Ernest Bevin comprehensive was enjoyable, that school also had problems and there was always some sort of Funding Crisis.

There are several causes of the Funding Crisis, but I want to highlight the main one, which was raised in the debate and is a matter of constant dispute in Southend.

There was an article in The Daily Telegraph last week in which Mr. Edward Broderick said that his life had been transformed by an evening class in computing - a course that may be affected by the Funding Crisis.

The Conservatives do not have an answer to the council tax or to the balance of Funding Crisis.

The lion's share of the hospital's Funding Crisis has far more to do with the labyrinthine nature of NHS RAB than any financial mismanagement in which it might have been involved.

The Minister will recall that I also said that the way to solve the problem was to deal with the balance of Funding Crisis.

If the Government seriously wish to tackle council tax rises, they must deal with the balance of Funding Crisis, and give more power to councils to raise more money themselves.

I therefore hope that the Minister will not say that the answer to the college's Funding Crisis is for it to raise more fees.

If our experience in Cambridge is anything to go by, patient choice will lead to a Funding Crisis in every service in the NHS, apart from in hospitals.

I do not know whether having the two key guys resigning is unique, but they were under real pressure, felt completely boxed in by the Funding Crisis and believed that they had to stand down.

However, the forum and other groups now face a Funding Crisis.

The hon. Gentleman freely admitted that that hospice is facing a Funding Crisis.

The Government's plan appears to be to resolve the Current Funding Crisis over a period of many years out of retained profits, by which time a good number of the employees will presumably be expecting to draw their pensions.

The AU force is still relatively weak and is facing a Funding Crisis.

The challenge, however, arises from the Funding Crisis that many PCTs are suffering.

Let me set the Funding Crisis in Shropshire in context by explaining the scale of the problem that our health care services face under the Government's funding rules for the NHS.

The aim of the Bill was to address the Funding Crisis that beset the Government who abolished means-testing.

So there is a Crisis in Funding and retaining care staff and long-term care homes.

We recently had a successful march in Shropshire, which was called the march for life, and tried to draw attention to the Funding Crisis in Shropshire.

May we have a debate on the Funding Crisis in our PCTs?

The third, and sad, fact is that those humanitarian workers have now been affected by a Funding Crisis as some donors, frankly, get a bit weary.

The hon. Lady will be all too aware of the Funding Crisis afflicting Greater Manchester police.

The practice could actually do it for £15, but the Crisis of Funding at the PCT meant that the service was cut.

As the report says, and as a number of professionals in the area have said over the past few years, there is a Crisis in the Funding for the training of educational psychologists.

We must not let the present Crisis of Funding in the NHS sweep away an extremely valuable and treasured resource which will be irreplaceable.

That led to a Funding Crisis at European Home Retail, the parent company, and its shares were suspended in August.

The Government seem reluctant to address the Funding Crisis in residential rehabilitation.

As the noble Lord, Lord Hanningfield, mentioned, today's letter in the Guardian has reinforced the message that there is a real Crisis in the Funding of social care.

However, it is also vital that we have a resolution to the Immediate Funding Crisis in the provision of care services for the elderly and for vulnerable adults.

I freely acknowledge that Hemel Hempstead hospital has had substantial investment in the past 10 years in new cardiac unit, stroke and birthing units and extensive modernisation of the accident and emergency department, all of which will now be closed because of the Funding Crisis in the NHS.

Another issue he ignored was the Funding Crisis in the NHS, which is having a serious impact on services.

Last summer, many more Palestinians came close to destitution when hospitals in Gaza ran out of fuel, medicines and even food as a result of the PA's Funding Crisis.

Because of the Funding Crisis facing Durham constabulary next year, the police authority is contemplating replacing 100 police officers with 70 community support officers.

As a result of medical advances and people living longer our future pension provision faces a rapidly growing Funding Crisis.

Put simply, the issue is that Greater Manchester police face a Funding Crisis, and that is what today's debate is intended to deal with.

, the police are entering a Funding Crisis that can be fixed only by significant increases in funding from central Government - 3.

announced does not address the Funding Crisis that many police authorities are facing.

The Local Government Association produced a constructive document outlining the Funding Crisis facing local government, and it includes the No.

The Court has a Funding Crisis, and a person taking a case there can expect to wait for anything from eight to 10 years, because there is a huge backlog of cases.

I hope that the Minister will accept the urgency of the Funding Crisis and give a real indication of how it will be met in the short term.

The Current Funding Crisis within our PCT is causing a lot of concern to our general practitioners and to health visitors.

This Question not only highlights the specific issue of how to reorganise the teaching of English to speakers of other languages following the Funding Crisis, but indicates clearly the challenge in the wider social integration of non-English-speaking people settling in England.

Is the Prime Minister aware of the extent of the Funding Crisis faced by Greater Manchester police, which has already seen the loss of some 216 officers?

Mental health is suffering a double whammy: mental health trusts had to tighten their belts because of the Present Funding Crisis, and they have to tighten them a second time to bail out other parts of the NHS.

We are in a Funding Crisis and morale and energy are being sapped.

Notwithstanding the Minister's rather rough reply to my hon. Friendthe Member for Romford (Andrew Rosindell), will he acknowledge again - as he has to me both on the Floor of the House and in Westminster Hall - that English Heritage is suffering from something of a Funding Crisis?

Why, when yesterday's statement perpetuated the Funding Crisis for elderly care, should we have any confidence that the Government are genuinely committed to badly needed reform?

As has been said, however, even now, we are simply failing to address the Immediate Funding Crisis.

One gets from local authorities the clear impression that they have a Crisis in the Funding of services for older people.

At that time, we were faced with a mini-Crisis in Funding for the colleges in South Yorkshire.

The Minister will gather that there is a particular Crisis in Funding in Essex, which I raised in a pre-Christmas Adjournment debate.

We have a Crisis of Funding.

Nowhere was the Crisis in Funding anticipated, and the sector was not prepared for it, so where has it come from?

The Current Funding Crisis involves Salisbury, Canterbury, Durham and Lichfield cathedrals and concerns the best way to conserve mediaeval stone.

The Funding Crisis, however, is not in 2016, but now.

As a result, the mental health trust that hosts the service, the South West London and St George's Mental Health NHS Trust, has been confronted with a growing Funding Crisis.

The Government commissioned an investigation of the authority by PricewaterhouseCoopers that found only minimal room for savings, which would have made little difference to the Fundamental Funding Crisis that we are discussing today.

A few years ago, however, Grimethorpe went through a Funding Crisis, so I had to write to all the big companies and building societies in Yorkshire, including the Yorkshire building society, Halifax, the Barnsley building society, Asda, Morrisons and so on, to see whether I could get some money.

A Funding Crisis combined with a currency crisis is an explosive mixture.

It has been very sad listening to hon. Members talk about all the different colleges that are affected by the Funding Crisis.

I wish to add to the calls for a debate on further education, as the Crisis in Funding is hitting my constituency hard.

CEOP is hailed as one of the leading child protection agencies in the world, but despite its excellent work, it faces something of a Funding Crisis.

The college capital programme has had to be put on the back burner because of the Funding Crisis at the Learning and Skills Council.

I make no apologies for raising the Learning and Skills Council's Funding Crisis and its effect on further education provision.

That is effectively the cause of the Funding Crisis, and the LSC is going to be abolished, so the least the Government can do is to indemnify the college against the reasonable costs that it has incurred as a result of the LSC's incompetence.

The Funding Crisis in training is exacerbated by the lack of guidance as to the number of educational psychologists who are needed to support and improve outcomes for vulnerable children and young people.

That is a few hundred yards away and a safe round trip, so it is no wonder that we do not have a Funding Crisis and the gilt market is stable.

Some have disappeared due to the Funding Crisis.

To reinforce the point, yesterday the principal-the vice-chancellor equivalent-of Glasgow university, where I know that my right hon. Friend is a rector and with which I have an association, said in relation to the growing Funding Crisis in Scottish universities: "I believe we need to adopt a graduate contribution model that is properly designed, progressive and one which requires those who earn more during their lifetime to pay back more to society in order to fund higher education".

He referred to "the growing Funding Crisis in Scottish universities".

Local groups face This Funding Crisis because of Government decisions to cut local authority funding too far and too fast.

CfH” - Connecting for Health - “hasn't solved the Funding Crisis for computerising the NHS, rather landed us with a massively expensive way to do what some of us were achieving already”.

Is it not true that as higher education teaching has been cut by 80%, far more universities are charging £9,000 than the Government planned, causing huge political embarrassment for the Government and creating a Funding Crisis with the Treasury?

Will he acknowledge the enormous contribution the voluntary sector makes in the area of youth services and tell the House in what way he thinks Their Current Funding Crisis can be helped?

That is why we should view the current Crisis in the Funding of the CAB movement as a matter that requires urgent attention from the Government.

To make matters worse, the coming changes in the legal aid system mean that social welfare and housing cases will no longer be eligible for legal aid, so the Funding Crisis for the CAB is bound to get worse and worse.

Among the Public Administration Committee's many criticisms in its report today, it rightly highlights that Ministers cannot expect the big society bank to provide the solution to the Funding Crisis that their cuts are causing for hundreds of charities.

The creation of the new commissioner posts will bring politics into policing like never before, providing yet another difficulty and distraction for chief constables trying to do their jobs to protect law-abiding citizens in the midst of a Funding Crisis.

I appreciate that the Government have allocated additional funding for social care, but what more will and can they do in the short term not only to address the current Crisis in Funding and ensure that funding is used creatively and efficiently locally, but to cater for those with lower-level needs through preventive measures and early intervention?

The solution to the Funding Crisis brought on by an ageing population will inevitably require individuals to pay more, and from an earlier age.

Setting up the Commission on Funding of Care and Support showed that the Government accepted that tackling the Funding Crisis was to be an imperative part of their work.

We urgently need to bring forward measures to correct the Funding Crisis and to meet existing unmet need so that a sustainable, long-term settlement is created between the state, the community and the family to meet rising demand.

The previous Government had 13 years to deal with these big challenges of elderly care, of better integrating health and social care, and of dealing with the Funding Crisis.

The reality, however, as we on these Benches have repeatedly stressed, is that current inadequacies and failures of the system will not be addressed without tackling the Crisis in the Funding of social care.

We have the failure to address the Funding Crisis, the prospect of the proposed care and support Bill not coming into effect until probably April 2015, and any implementation of the Dilnot options effectively long-grassed until after the next election.

The proposals have no answers to the Immediate Funding Crisis that is engulfing councils and resulting in thousands of older people seeing support taken away or facing huge increases in charges for day care and meals on wheels - stealth taxes on the most vulnerable in our society.

There is clearly a huge shortfall and a Crisis of Funding in social care.

He made the point that one of the reasons for the Funding Crisis is that the previous Government failed to invest adequately in social care; it received only 70% of the funding compared with the NHS.

4 billion of which has been returned to the Treasury - to tackle the Funding Crisis in social care.

Does my hon. Friend agree that we have heard nothing from the Government this evening that demonstrates that they have any idea of the Funding Crisis that is hitting a number of local authorities throughout the country?

I want to talk about the Funding Crisis.

I wish I could record that the situation for carers for people with dementia had improved radically in that time, but, given the increasing number of people with dementia and the Crisis in the Funding of social care - which has been touched on by several Members - the amount of respite care per individual carer cannot be stepped up dramatically, which is a pity.

More widely, the care Bill does nothing to address the Funding Crisis in social care or to help those who face a daily struggle to get the support they need right now.

Many local authorities are innovatively working in partnership to minimise the damage caused by the Funding Crisis, but that is a result of new thinking from councils.

More immediately, the Funding Crisis in social care is having a major impact on the NHS in terms of the major flow of people into A&E departments, especially at night, and the lengthening of hospital stays as discharge packages cannot be funded.

I will say a little more about all three issues, after which I will suggest an immediate remedy to the problems and a longer-term solution to the Funding Crisis.

There is compelling evidence that rising costs of care are leading inexorably towards a Crisis in Funding for the local authorities which are trying to meet the needs of an ageing population.

Let me now turn to the Funding Crisis in social care.

We support the extension of entitlement to assessment to self-funders and their carers but we join with noble Lords who are concerned about whether local authorities can possibly carry out this major undertaking in the realities of the Current Funding Crisis and other duties being placed on them.

It was certainly ready at the first meeting of the new Derbyshire fire authority and presented as the solution to the Funding Crisis it faced.

On funding priorities, the Government are failing to face up to the scale of the Funding Crisis facing councils right now.

The Bill is a missed opportunity to make such scenarios a thing of the past because it does nothing to address the Funding Crisis in adult social care.

First, when the Government came into office there was a risk that there would be a Funding Crisis.

It is right that additional funding should be spent on urgent repairs, but Ministers must not suggest that that alters the fact that the Government's downgrading of flooding has created a Crisis in the Funding of our essential flood defences.

Underpinning everything we have discussed in the many hours of debate on the Bill is the fact that local authorities all over the country are experiencing a Funding Crisis, driven by a Government who appear unconcerned about the effects of their spending cuts on the poor and the vulnerable.

Equally, the NHS is faced with a Funding Crisis that will get worse as each year goes by, as an ageing population with multiple long-term morbidities makes increased demands on a decreasing real-terms budget.

To that end, although the money offered by DCLG is welcome, is there not a danger, if it must be match funded by local authorities at a time of Funding Crisis, that the process will be much slower than it would otherwise be?

The Funding Crisis is undermining this objective and indeed threatening the capacity of the NHS as a whole to meet the challenges ahead.

The first is the Funding Crisis common to the health sector and local authorities and the second is the increase in life expectancy mentioned by the noble Lord.

On the national health service, we welcome the Chancellor's belated recognition that there is a Funding Crisis.

The grammar schools in the area that I represent face a Funding Crisis, despite making all possible savings.

” Following is the full text of the petition: [The Petition of grammar school pupils and their families in Southend, Declares that the Petitioners are concerned that the outstanding grammar schools in Southend are facing an Urgent Funding Crisis, as their two and three year budget forecasts show that they cannot cover the costs of all of their lessons; further that the Petitioners believe that many successful schools across the country, including the grammar schools in Southend, have long accepted a lower rate of funding while other secondary schools in the same area receive 50% more per pupil per year; further that the Petitioners are concerned that the local Schools' Funding Forum cannot close this gap and that successful schools such as the grammar schools in Southend are facing the worst cuts; further that the Petitioners recognise the fact that their schools have reduced staffing to the minimum, have stopped replacing equipment, while at the same time increasing class sizes and reducing the number of subjects taught; and lastly that the Petitioners believe that there is nothing left to cut.

However, devolution is only part of the answer; in itself, it will not solve the Funding Crisis and cannot be used by central Government as an excuse to transfer responsibilities.

There is a Crisis in the Funding of such schemes and the tax treatment of dividends requires a fresh examination.

My Lords, this amendment seeks to explore in more detail the purpose of the funding review announced by the Government, the extent to which real evidence will inform its findings, and the need to find a fully sustainable solution to the Funding Crisis.

The other issue identified in the report is the Funding Crisis.

However, she will know that there is still a Crisis of Funding in those areas.

We will not be able to improve the quality of dementia services until we find a solution to the Funding Crisis facing social care.

We know that a Funding Crisis is building up as we speak, and alongside the problems with teacher training and supply, these are creating a perfect storm.

My Lords, quite clearly there is a Crisis of Funding in the NHS on an enormous scale and nothing I have heard from the Government indicates that the problem is going to be solved by any single party.

One is the Current Funding Crisis in social care.

Given that disparity between areas such as Surrey and areas such as mine, and since there is a Crisis in the Funding not of residential care but of state residential care, it is probable that the market will not collapse nationally, but will fall over in areas such as mine where the state is the main payer.

In summary, the Government's Crisis in Funding for care homes has pushed the sector to the brink.

The care sector responded to the spending review by saying: “We believe the package put forward for social care will not enable us to fill the current gap in funding, cover additional costs associated with the introduction of the National Living Wage, nor fully meet…growth in demand due to our ageing population… the settlement is not sufficient, not targeted at the right geographies and will not come soon enough to resolve the care Funding Crisis.

The NHS is no different; more or less since its founding, it has faced a continuous demand for more money and the public fisc has been unable to quite meet it, so we have had a history in which it is perpetually in a Funding Crisis.

On the point that we are seeing a rise in demand and the costs of healthcare, I detected more than a hint from the noble Lord, Lord Prior, that he might believe that the spreading of good practice - there is all sorts of good practice around - and increasing efficiency will solve the Funding Crisis.

I really fear that any revenue we raise across the city of Salford will barely touch the sides of the Funding Crisis in social care.

At the same time, despite the welcome injection of extra funds, the Government still do not appear to have squared the Funding Crisis.

I put it as gently as I can to the Secretary of State: we have a Funding Crisis in social care that threatens to knock over our national health service.

My hon. Friendthe Member for Warrington North (Helen Jones) has ably raised the questions around what the Government mean by a 24/7 NHS, but it is important that we also consider the Funding Crisis facing the NHS.

I want to talk about what I describe as the Funding Crisis in social care.

May we have a statement from a Minister on the Crisis in Funding for local services?

A number of constituents have raised with me what is something of a Funding Crisis in schools, so I would like him to assure us that that will be given priority.

It is an almost perfect storm: increasing numbers of elderly people requiring care; local government facing the worst Crisis in Funding from central government for generations; and then the introduction of the living wage.

We discuss this one against a background of a Crisis in Funding for the NHS.

I came close to agreeing with his last point, if not his earlier criticism of our Front Benchers because this Queen's Speech provided an opportunity to tackle the Funding Crisis in the NHS.

There is nothing in this Queen's Speech on the growing Funding Crisis affecting schools.

May we have a statement to reveal how the Government will tackle the growing Funding Crisis in residential rehab across our country, with cuts of more than 50% to drug treatment budgets?