§ Mr. CousinsTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what were the changes in the service increment for teaching formula since 1980.
§ Mrs. Virginia BottomleyThe formula used to calculate the service increment for teaching (SIFT) has been changed on two occasions in this period; following the work of, first, the Advisory Group on Resource Allocation which reported in 1980, and the NHS Management Board's review of the Resource Allocation Working Party (RAWP) formula, which reported in 1988. The changes on each occasion were:
In 1980-81:
Expansion to cover new medical schools at Cambridge, Leicester, Nottingham and Southampton;Expansion of the number of teaching hospitals covered by the formula;Replacement of the previous method of compensating for higher London costs; introduction of the London weighting addition in its place;Introduction of separate recognition for dental hospitals' excess service costs—equal to 85 per cent. of their average outpatient expenditure.Recommendations of the RAWP Review: to take effect in 1990–91:
Increase in the proportion of excess service costs met by medical SIFT from 75 per cent. to 100 per cent.;Recalculation of the average amount by which teaching hospitals' service costs exceed those of other hospitals, on the basis of an updated survey;Recalculation of dental SIFT in recognition of increased costs in dental hospitals, relative to the rest of the NHS.In addition to these changes to the formula, in November 1989 important new advice was issued to the regional health authorities on the principles which should govern their allocation of SIFT to individual hospitals.