§ Mr. CorbynTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what information on the needs of(a) rough sleepers, (b) the homeless and (c) bed and breakfast and hostel residents is used in the calculation of the needs of each health district. [27371]
§ Mr. Boateng[holding answer 5 February 1998]: The health authority weighted capitation formula indirectly accounts for the officially homeless in temporary accommodation through the indicators of health and socio-economic status used in the acute and psychiatric indices. However, it is accepted that the national weighted capitation formula does not adequately capture the needs of rough sleepers. On the advice of the Resource Allocation Group, an adjustment is made to health authority targets outside the formula and was introduced in 1996–97.
The rough sleepers adjustment weights the number of rough sleepers in a health authority, based on the 1991 Census count of rough sleepers, by a per capita cost for rough sleepers, derived from work carried out in the Thames health authorities.
Full details of the adjustment are set out in the 1996–97 Health Authority Revenue Cash Limits Exposition Book, copies of which are available in the Library.