Ideas, please, for breaking the NHS and Aid ringfences

In her Times column today (£), Rachel Sylvester notes how ministers facing 10%, 25% and even 40% cuts are trying to transfer parts of their responsibilities into the Health and Aid budgets where the cuts are 0%:

"The Home Office has started to make the argument in Whitehall that all drug rehabilitation treatment should be paid for by the Department of Health. The Ministry of Justice is considering how mentally ill offenders could be covered by the NHS, rather than the prisons budget. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Ministry of Defence are working out which aspects of their work should be paid for by DfID and classified as “aid”. For the Local Government Department it seems obvious that the Department of Health should bear more of the cost of social care. And although Education is partially protected, it, too, could try to put the cost of tackling obesity in schools on to Mr Lansley’s account."

What ideas for similar reclassification can ConHome readers suggest?

I'll get the ball rolling: Medical care for servicemen could be part of the NHS budget.

Tim Montgomerie