§ Mr. MeacherTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what was the total gross expenditure of each regional health authority in each of the last five years; and what is the projected expenditure for the next two years.
§ Mr. SackvilleGross expenditure figures by regional health authority (RHA) for the financial years 1987–88 to 1991–92 are shown in the table. The 1991–92 figures are not comparable with those for earlier years and should be interpreted with caution. Simple comparisons between authorities is misleading because RHAs devolved their non-core functions at varying times and bore different costs on their regional budgets.
1990–91 the data for the maternity tail of the hospital episodes statistics were submitted from the South Western and West Midlands regional health authorities.
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§ Mr. Sackville[holding answer 20 July 1993]: Neither health authority submitted any of the additional data collected within the hospital episode statistics "maternity tail".