§ Mr. Beggsasked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland to whom the area manager of a health board is responsible; and what scrutiny is made of his actions.
§ Mr. NeedhamThe general manager of a health and social services board is directly accountable to the board as his employer. He is also accountable on behalf of the board for the management of its funds to the permanent secretary of the Department of Health and Social Services in his role as accounting officer responsible to Parliament.
A number of key objectives are determined each year by the board for the general manager and his performance in meeting those objectives is assessed by the chairman acting for the board and by the permanent secretary to ensure equity and consistency between boards.
In addition, the board's financial affairs, and their administration by its staff, are subject to scrutiny by the auditors appointed by the Department of Health and Social Services and by the Northern Ireland Audit Office.
§ Mr. Beggsasked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will list the bonus payments paid to the area manager of the Northern health board in each of the last 10 years.
§ Mr. NeedhamIt is the Government's policy not to disclose personal information of this kind.
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§ Mr. Beggsasked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what is the per capita revenue allocation for the Southern, Western and Northern boards for the next five to 10 years.
§ Mr. NeedhamThe actual level of resources available for the health and personal social services is decided annually through the public expenditure survey and the Secretary of State's decisions in allocating the Northern Ireland block. It is not possible therefore to identify the boards' revenue allocations and the consequent per capita funding over the next five to 10 years. However, the recently published regional strategy for the "Northern Ireland Health and Personal Social Services 1987–1992", a copy of which has been placed in the Library, is based on the assumption that over the period to 1992 the total level of resources across the Province will remain steady in real terms, with an enhancement for demographic pressures, estimated at 0.9 per cent. per year.
§ Mr. Beggsasked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what has the total capital allocation been to each area health board in Northen Ireland since the inception of the health boards in 1973.
§ Mr. NeedhamThe information covering the period 1 October 1973 to 31 March 1987 is as follows:
£ million Northern Board 19.6 Southern Board 17.3 Eastern Board 66.4 Western Board 18.0
§ Mr. Beggsasked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what has been the total revenue allocation to each area health board in Northern Ireland since 1973.
§ Mr. NeedhamThe information covering the period 1 October 1973 to 31 March 1987 is as follows:
£ million Northern Board 711 Southern Board 674 Eastern Board 2,399 Western Board 655
§ Mr. Beggsasked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what is the revenue allocation to the Eastern health board for its regional services.
§ Mr. NeedhamIt is not possible to define accurately what constitutes regional medical services because of medical advances and changing clinical practices. In addition, many regional services are provided at the major teaching hospitals and their costs cannot be identified separately.