§ Lord Smith of Leighasked Her Majesty's Government:
In the light of the recent report from the Special Interest Group of Municipal Authorities (Outside London) on the disparities between health need and health funding, whether they intend to redistribute health funding to those areas in greatest need. [HL26]
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health (Lord Warner)The Department of Health is committed to matching the allocation of funding with the relative need of local areas.
A weighted capitation formula is used to determine each primary care trust's target share of available resources, which then informs allocations. Revenue funding is allocated to primary care trusts on the basis of the relative needs of their populations.
The department has recently carried out a substantial review of the weighted capitation formula, and the new formula introduced from 2003–04 gives much greater weight to the needs of deprived communities.