Your article on LIFT (3 February) tries to damn what is generally accepted as a successful programme using a single case where things haven't worked out.

The rest of the evidence was cobbled together from carefully edited information.

The LIFT initiative has been a success. Nationally, almost £1bn has been invested in new primary care infrastructure. Of this, nearly £200m has come from the Department of Health. More than 50 large primary care facilities are open and will continue to be opened at a rate of one a week for the rest of this year. In Wigan and Leigh, four one-stop shops are open and two are in planning. Total investment through LIFT exceeds £30m.

The article inaccurately cuts together evidence from two separate public accounts committee hearings. In my evidence on the LIFT hearings on 17 October, I did say it wasn't possible yet to demonstrate absolutely that it was delivering value for money as it was still early days, but I went on to say that all the indicators were that it was fully delivering against our objectives, which includes value for money. The reference to 60% returns came from my evidence to the committee's hearings on the Norfolk & Norwich PFI hospital scheme on 16 November. There is no evidence that LIFT shareholders are making returns of anywhere near that level.

Peter Coates, deputy director of finance - investment, the Department of Health

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