§ Mrs. FyfeTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what account will be taken of fixed overheads such as capital costs when calculating the costs of treatment(a) as a matter of routine in all cases or (b) as a matter of local discretion; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Stewart[holding answer 17 February 1993]: The procedural manual on contracting requires that contract and extra-contractual referral prices are based on full costs with fixed overheads and capital charges allocated to different services on a fair and reasonable basis. The only exception to this requirement is where contracts relate to utilising spare capacity in year where the fixed costs have already been recovered against planned activity. Waiting list initiatives could fall into this category and could be priced on marginal cost. Health boards and NHS trusts do not have any discretion to deviate from these requirements.