GREATER Manchester will soon become the first area in England to be given full control of its £6bn NHS budget in the next wave of powers devolved from Westminster.
The ultimate aim is for full devolution of all public spending in the region - all £22bn of it.
Chancellor George Osborne is expected to make the unexpected and unprecedented announcement later this week, with the Council's new powers expected to come into play from April 2016.
It is understood a new board will be tasked with integrating Greater Manchester's health and social care service in order to ease escalating pressure on the NHS.
Northern Ireland already have the devolved health care powers, as will Scotland this year.
Town Hall
This is the latest and most significant step yet for DevoManc; a number of powers devolved to the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (made up of the region's ten councils) in November 2014 worth roughly £1bn including control over some transport, planning, housing and policing budgets in exchange for a new Boris-brand elected mayor by 2017.
The new mayor will now oversee the region's entire NHS budget, a new housing investment fund of up to £300m, a welfare-to-work budget of £100m, £30m a year for growth, as well as greater responsibility for strategic planning, local transport and further education - roughly £7bn.
The ultimate aim, at least where Manchester City Council leader Sir Richard Leese and Chief Executive Sir Howard Bernstein are concerned, is for full devolution of all public spending in the region - all £22bn of it.
The question now is what comes next in the Manchester plan? How about education, or that juicy £8bn welfare budget? Certainly the speed of movement on the NHS has surprised politicians and commentators. It seems that ahead of the General Election the Conservatives are in a hurry to show they mean business in their commitment to handing back powers to local administrations. The Labour Party nationally seems to have been caught flat-footed again.
Either way, this is extraordinary news for Manchester.
