Primary Care Trusts (Hansard, 19 April 2004)

§ Mr. Lansley
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the number of primary care trusts that plan to use NHS Direct to handle their out-of-hours calls from 1 April. [162098]

§ Ms Rosie Winterton
No estimate has been made of the number of primary care trusts that plan to use NHS Direct to handle out-of-hours calls from 1 April 2004.

§ Mr. Burstow
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what support will be given by his Department to primary care trusts who have had to sign early contracts with foundation trusts to manage risks involved with signing contracts before negotiations on activity levels have been completed. [165245]

§ Mr. Hutton
The Department of Health has put in place a package of support for primary care trusts (PCTs) that will be contracting with national health service foundation trusts, including: 219W Model 'template' contract documents to be adapted locally; Bespoke training on 'Contracting with and by NHS Foundation Trusts'. Currently 253 NHS staff have attended the training course including 122 representatives from 78 PCTs; and Access to specialist legal advice.