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22 February 2012 Last updated at 17:42 ET

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David Cameron produces Labour briefing on NHS bill during PMQs

Labour leader Ed Miliband has told David Cameron he risks making NHS reform "his poll tax" - in noisy Commons clashes over the health bill.

Mr Miliband repeatedly accused the PM of refusing to listen to medics' concerns about the controversial bill.

But the government defeated, by a majority of 53 votes, a Labour bid to make it release an internal register of risks linked to the bill.

Mr Cameron said Labour refused to publish a register when in power.

The two leaders clashed at Prime Minister's Questions, ahead of the Labour-led debate calling for the publication of the government's risk assessment of the impact of the NHS shake-up in England.

Some 246 MPs voted for Labour's motion, compared with 299 who voted against following the Commons debate.

Four Lib Dem MPs - Andrew George, Mike Hancock, Greg Mulholland and John Pugh - voted with Labour and against the government.

'Not fit'

The controversial Health and Social Care Bill has passed through its Commons stages but has been amended several times by the House of Lords.

Crossbencher Lord Owen is expected to put down an amendment to the bill which would delay its passage through Parliament until after a Freedom of Information ruling on the "transition risk register" on 5 and 6 March.

Continue reading the main story “Start Quote

This will become his poll tax. He should listen to the public and he should drop this bill”

End Quote Ed Miliband Labour leader

In the Commons, Mr Cameron said Labour frontbencher Andy Burnham had blocked the publication of a risk register in September 2009 - when he was health secretary.

Mr Cameron said it showed Labour "absolutely revealed as a bunch of rank opportunists, not fit to run opposition and not fit for government".

But Mr Miliband accused the PM of having excluded the "vast majority" of health workers from a "ridiculous summit" on the Health and Social Care Bill on Monday.

Having previously said he wanted to listen to NHS workers "now he can't even be in the same room as the doctors and nurses" - suggesting he had "lost the confidence of those who work in the NHS".

He told the PM "nobody believes him and nobody trusts him on the health service" and claimed the bill had become a "symbol of his arrogance".

Referring to the hugely controversial policy seen as helping hasten the end of Margaret Thatcher's leadership of the Conservative Party, Mr Miliband added: "This will become his poll tax. He should listen to the public and he should drop this bill."

Lib Dem rebels

The government is appealing against a Freedom of Information ruling that it should be published in the public interest.

Continue reading the main story “Start Quote

You don't save the NHS by opposing reform, you save the NHS by delivering reform”

End Quote David Cameron

Labour chose to use its opposition day debate to demand that the government "respect" the information commissioner's ruling and publish the report.

The vote is not binding but does increase pressure on the government.

An early day motion on the same issue has been signed by 15 Lib Dem MPs, including Duncan Hames - an aide to Energy Secretary Ed Davey. However, only four of the signatories chose to vote against the government.

Shadow health secretary Mr Burnham told MPs there had been "crucial differences" between the document whose publication he had blocked in 2009 - the strategic risk register - and the one Labour was now pressing the government to publish.

He said he had not initiated what he described as the biggest ever top-down re-organisation of the NHS at a time of its biggest ever financial challenge - and the information commissioner had not ruled in 2009 that the paper should be published.

Health Secretary Andrew Lansley has said it would be "completely misleading" to publish the register, which was put together before changes were made to the bill and had been intended as an "internal mechanism".

Past requests

In the Commons he quoted back Mr Burnham's own words from 2007, when he was a health minister, following a similar request for a risk register to be published - when Mr Burnham said that it would "be likely to reduce the detail and utility of its contents" which would "inhibit the free and frank exchange of views about significant risks".

Mr Burnham repeated that it was not a "comparable situation" as it had referred to a different document.

He claimed regional and local risk registers, which have been published, were "appalling and shocking".

Among them was a warning by South Central Strategic Health Authority, which said "the pace and scale of reform, coupled with savings achieved through cost reduction rather than real service redesign could adversely impact on safety and quality".

One of the Lib Dem rebels, Andrew George, said he acknowledged that if the register was published it was "unlikely to change a single mind on the issue".

But he said it was better not to take on the biggest reorganisation ever of the NHS "in the dark".

The bill has also been criticised by various bodies representing healthcare professionals.

'Delivering reform'

Lib Dem activists are preparing an emergency motion for their party's spring conference next month, urging the party to work towards defeating the bill, amid reports that grass roots discontent on the issue is now greater than that over student tuition fees in 2010.

But Mr Cameron said on Wednesday the bill would "abolish the bureaucracy that has been holding the NHS back".

He argues reform is needed to deal with the challenges of an ageing population and the rising costs of medical treatments and long-term conditions.

Accusing Labour of opposing changes it had once backed, he said: "You don't save the NHS by opposing reform, you save the NHS by delivering reform."

The BBC's political editor Nick Robinson said that while both coalition partners were insisting the bill would continue, there were clear differences in tone from the two sides about the possibility of further concessions.

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NHS 'will be Cameron's poll tax'

Posted: Tuesday, February 21, 2012 3:57 pm | Updated: 10:55 pm, Tue Feb 21, 2012.

NEW SEWICKLEY TWP. — To help prevent a rise in property taxes, every employee of the Freedom Area School District has agreed to a wage freeze for the 2012-2013 school year.

The salary concessions, along with benefit and retirement agreements, will help the district save as much as $1.6 million over the next five years, according to Superintendent Ron Sofo.

“I think at the local level, Freedom is meeting the challenge of operating in a fiscally responsible manner while providing a quality education that the community can afford,” Soho said.

The Freedom Area Education Association, which covers 117 teachers, agreed to a three-year contract with a one-year wage freeze that will create $220,000 in savings in the new school year’s budget.

The Educational Support Professional Association, which covers 46 custodial, maintenance and cafeateria workers, agreed to a five-year contract that begins with a two-year wage freeze. The wage freeze will save the district $45,000 over two years.

Administrators, clerical staff and instructional support paraprofessionals — none of whom belong to bargaining units — have had their salaries frozen by the school board.

“The budget cuts facing Pennsylvania school districts led the (teachers) to help our district and help our community ... . We believe this contract represents a positive response by both parties to the weak economy,” said Ed Shepherd, president of the education association.

Members of both associations agreed to several cost sharing or controlling mechanisms, including paying 100 percent of any annual health care premium increase over 8 percent.

Freedom Area has passed a preliminary budget that calls for no property tax increase. The district’s 44-mill tax raise was among the lowest in Beaver County in the 2011-2012 school year. Western Beaver was the lowest at 43.3 mills.

“I think this is notable and significant, particularly at a time when the governor and state Legislature are disinvesting in public school education and shifting responsibility to local taxpayers to pay for quality education for all students,” Sofo said.

Posted in Local news, Freedom area on Tuesday, February 21, 2012 3:57 pm. Updated: 10:55 pm.

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Freedom Area employees accept wage freeze

Canandaigua, N.Y. - Matt Wyckoff suffered a stroke when he was just three months old. His adoptive parents, Denny and Sue, almost lost him again months later.

But Matt is a fighter. He suffered a Traumatic Brain Injury, but has beaten all of the odds.

Doctors once told his parents he would never walk. He did. They also said he wouldn't make it past fourth grade. He has an Associates Degree from Finger Lakes Community College.

And for the first time, the 21-year-old man is living on his own. He is one of eight young adults with brain injuries who are now living in the Happiness House Transitional Home in Canandaigua.

Here they will learn skills they need to transition into really living on their own.

They will grocery shop, share cooking, do chores, learn how to budget and balance a checkbook, and have the freedom to come and go.

There is also a safety net--staff is available 24 hours a day, if they need hep.

They also get a call, if they don't get home when they are expected.  Just like Mom and Dad would do.

But for Matt, it's the first taste of freedom and he is loving it.  His parents bought him brand new furniture for his apartment.

Wegmans also gave each of the residents a $200 gift card to stock their kitchen cupboards.

This transitional home is unique, one of the only one of its kind in New York State.

Matt says he looked at group homes, but they were too structured. Here, he says he can have more independence.

His parents, Denny and Sue, say they were thrilled when Matt was accepted into the home. They call it a blessing.

Terrie Meyn, Associate Executive Director of Happiness House, says this home offers residents the best of both worlds: freedom in a safe and secure place.

She says most will live here anywhere from one to three years and once they leave, will have the skills they need to live on their own.

Not only did the community in Canandaigua welcome their new neighbors, their support and donations helped build the house.

Wegmans, The Golisano Foundation and others raised more than $660,000.

For Matt, it's a chance to spread his wings. He works 30 hours at Wegmans and hopes to return to college to earn a Bachelor's Degree.

He'd like someday, to work in radio.

Matt, by the way, also has a second degree Black Belt in Karate!

He's now 21 and realizes he has come a long way. He also looks forward to his future when he can really live on his own.

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New Home Offers Freedom For Young Adults With Traumatic Brain Injuries

The Supreme Court on Tuesday allotted an extra 30 minutes to oral arguments on the health care reform law, giving another half an hour to the debate over whether a federal tax law should prevent a ruling this year.

The decision bumps up the total argument time to six hours over three days in late March.

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The federal government, 26 states and a small-business group jointly requested that the court spend 90 minutes, instead of 60 minutes, on whether the tax law would prevent the court from ruling on the constitutionality of the mandate until at least 2015.

It’s a pivotal issue because if the court finds that the tax law, called the Anti-Injunction Act, applies to the health law, the justices would likely throw out the case against the individual mandate. Anyone who wanted to sue would have to wait to file a lawsuit until after they file their taxes in April 2015.

With the extra 30 minutes on tax law, the oral arguments will break down this way:

• Anti-Injunction Act: 90 minutes

• Individual mandate: 120 minutes

• Severability: 90 minutes

• Medicaid: 60 minutes

This article first appeared on POLITICO Pro at 10:31 a.m. on February 21, 2012.

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SCOTUS: Extra half hour for debate