How can they "run" it, then?

The Conservative Home website today has an item by Tom Greeves on answers to parliamentary questions on health issues.

Anne Milton, Shadow Health Minister asked how many people received cognitive behavioural therapy in each of the last five years.

The answer given was, "This information is not held centrally."

Labour MP Ashok Kumar asked what was the average ratio of nurses to patients in each of the last 10 years in England, in the North East and in the Tees Valley respectively.

The answer given was, "This information is not collected centrally."

The name of the game is obfuscation, of course, so we may wonder if there is a difference between "held" and "collected". The answers were given by two different junior ministers, so it may just be a matter of vocabulary.

The upshot is shocking in either event. London, it seems, is not in possession of important data, and yet jealously claims to "run" the Health Service in minute detail. If they lack these details, how can they know what trends are developing, how well our money is being spent or where there are needs to be answered. Are they only interested in the targets they trumpet, - length of waiting lists, length of waiting, etc.?