§ Mr. BayleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what has been the total cost of clinical audit in the national health service to date since 1991. [22458]
§ Mr. MaloneBetween April 1991 and March 1995, £247 million was provided to health authorities and the royal colleges to support clinical audit in England. The main purpose of these funds has been to develop and sustain an infrastructure of clinical audit committees and audit support staff. The other cost associated with clinical audit is that of clinicians' time, which has not been costed, and is dependent on the pattern of each individual clinician's input to clinical audit.