§ Mr. BercowTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the Public Service Agreement target of efficiency and other value for money gains in the NHS equivalent to 3 per cent. per annum of health authority unified allocations. [14902]
§ Mr. HuttonAllocations to health authorities are based on an overall assessment of the resources required to cover inflationary pressures and deliver national targets. Allocations to health authorities in 1999–2000 and 2000–01 were made net of 3 per cent. efficiency savings. This means that health authorities needed to achieve the efficiency target to fully fund delivery of national targets and inflation.
A new Public Service Agreement target for value for money was agreed as part of Spending Review 2000:
The cost of care commissioned from trusts which perform well against indicators of fair access, quality and responsiveness, will become the benchmark for the NHS. Everyone will be expected to reach the level of the best over the next five years, with agreed milestones for 2003—The aim of this new target is to ensure that cost-savings are not at the expense of service quality. The year 2001–02 is the first year covered by this new Public Service Agreement target. We will be monitoring progress against this new target as data become available.