HC Deb 12 March 2003 vol 401 c275W
Mr. Viggers

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much has been spent on private medical care for members of Her Majesty's forces in each of the last five years. [80793]

Dr. Moonie

Expenditure on the referral of Service personnel to private healthcare providers in each of the last five years is shown in the table:

£million
Financial year Cost
1998–99 0.12
1999–2000 0.17
2000–01 0.77
2001–02 4.10
2002–031 2.18
1 As at November 2002

Notes:

The referrals were made to a number of private healthcare providers, under both contractual and ad hoc arrangements. A small number of referrals to private healthcare providers were made by the Army Training and Recruitment Agency in 2000, but no financial information regarding these referrals is available. Some £3K of the expenditure recorded in 2000–01 relates to referrals made by the RAF to local healthcare providers in 2000–01 and 2001–02, but expenditure cannot be separated for each financial year.