Bill Olner, MP for Nuneaton, today welcomed the Government’s announcement of an extra £250 million for the NHS, to provide the best care this winter, particularly for the elderly.

Bill Olner MP said:

"Patients in Nuneaton will benefit from the extra £250 million which the Chancellor Gordon Brown announced for the NHS in the Pre-Budget Report today.

"In addition, the chancellor confirmed that the Government would invest £40 billion extra in health and education over the next three years. This is, on average, an additional £31.5 million for health and £27 million for education for every constituency in Britain, including Nuneaton.

"In the year ahead the Government will strengthen the essential foundations of long-term economic success – through stability, measures to improve productivity and encourage work, and by investing in public services.

"Today’s Pre-Budget Report shows that the public finances will remain under control over the years ahead with the Government meeting its rules on borrowing, and that inflation is set to remain on target at 2.5% so Britain can steer a stable course in an uncertain and unstable world.

"The Chancellor set out measures to extend the New Deal and encourage work. Employment is up by over 400,000 since the election, and here in Nuneaton, unemployment has already fallen by 373 since the election – that’s a 18.6% fall.

"The Pre-Budget Report outlines a set of proposals to encourage innovation and enterprise, investment, competition and skills to raise the productivity of all sectors of the economy. This includes extending employee share ownership, encouraging research and development by firms and a proposal for up to 8 new institutes of enterprise to turn British ideas into successful British products.

"The Pre-Budget Report also continued to take steps to build a fairer society. The Government announced today that as a result of the measures Labour has taken, following up the cut in VAT on fuel with tougher regulations and the new winter fuel payments, pensioners in Nuneaton are saving £108 on their fuel bills and the poorest pensioners are saving £140, every year."