Osborne accused of fiddling the figures over extra NHS cash

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/po ... 94200.html
George Osborne was today accused of fiddling the figures after it emerged that a third of the Government’s extra investment in the NHS will be money that has already been allocated to the Department of Health.
In an interview with the BBC, Mr Osborne said he would use Wednesday’s Autumn Statement to set out plans to provide an additional £2bn a year for frontline NHS services from next April.
But what the Chancellor did not mention was that the £2bn investment included £700m that had already been allocated by the Treasury to the Department of Health. Treasury sources later insisted that it was legitimate to include this money in the overall investment total because it had been found through “back office” cost savings and had never been allocated to the NHS.
Labour’s shadow Health Secretary, Andy Burnham, accused Mr Osborne of “recycling funds” rather than finding new money for the NHS. “The Chancellor’s spin is of no help at all to an NHS in real crisis now,” he said. “This will only reinforce the view that Cameron and Osborne simply can’t be trusted with the NHS.”
Labour said it would stick to Mr Osborne’s spending commitment as well as finding an additional £2.5m raised through new taxation.