Exclusive: the NHS report that Labour tried to block

It emerged this morning that Labour MPs took the extraordinary step of blocking the publication of the Health Select Committee report into the NHS – because the conclusions backed up government reforms. I have just been handed details of this report, and it’s clear why Labour wanted it suppressed: it contradicts the party’s attack message. Here are the main points:

• No sweeping privatisations: there has been little increase in private sector providers since 2010.
• Nor has there been an extension of charges or top-ups during the current parliament, and that these are not planned.
• Less red tape: a general trend of declining administration costs in the NHS.
• No evidence that the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership poses a threat to the NHS.

The Labour members of the committee tabled 52 amendments either objecting to the way the report was worded as well as edits to punctuation and spelling. The majority of these came from Valerie Vaz, who refused to sign up to the report as drafted.

So why was there a row? I understand that Vaz objected to lines in the report that she felt said private provision of healthcare was acceptable, and that appeared to suggest that changes to the Health and Social Care Act as implemented would be disruptive for the sector (though the committee has not been at all supportive of that legislation as a whole).