§ Mrs. BeckettTo ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to her answer of 2 May,Official Report, column 177, what assumptions informed her estimate of charges and receipts in tables of the departmental report for 1994–95 and 1995–96. [23620]
§ Mr. SackvilleThe estimates of charges and receipts for 1994–95 and 1995–96 were published in table 3 of the departmental report, Cmnd 2812.
The estimates of hospital and community health services charges and receipts for 1994–95 were based on the latest national health service trust audited summarisation accounts and on accounts and estimates from health authorities. The 1995–96 hospital and community health services current estimate is based on projections of past trends in receipts and will be revised in the usual way as further information becomes available. The HCHS capital receipts for 1994–95 and 1995–96 assume that some expected land sales which were not completed in 1994–95 will take place in the following year.
The estimate of family health service charges and receipts for 1994–95, reflected the charge levels then in force and forecasts of the volume of prescriptions and dental treatments. The planned increase for 1995–96 reflects the increase in family health services charges announced on 22 February, updated forecasts of the volume of prescriptions and dental treatments, and the knock on effect on charges of the increase in dental fees from 1 April, following the recommendation of the Doctors and Dentists Review Body.