§ Mr. Freudasked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) what were the annual administrative costs of the National Health Service for the years 1969–70, 1970–71, 1971–72, 1972–73 and 1973–74, respectively;
(2) what estimate she has made of the administrative costs of the National Health Service for the 12-month period from 1st April 1974;
(3) what percentage of the 1974–75 National Health Service budget is allocated to administration costs; and how this compares with the figures for 1969–70, 1970–71, 1971–72, 1972–73, 1973–74, respectively.
§ Mrs. Castle:For England the administrative costs in the National Health Service—excluding costs of local health authorities which cannot be separately identified—were as follows:
£ 1969–70 50,505,454 1970–71 58,908,893 1971–72 69,903,039 1972–73 81,666,393 1973–74 98,653,009 Expressed as a percentage of the total revenue costs for these years the figures are:
Percentage 1969–70 4.04 1970–71 3.99 1971–72 4.11 1972–73 4.22 1973–74 4.47 Estimates of administrative costs are made by individual health authorities and figures for 1974–75 are not available centrally.
§ Mr. Freudasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what have been the non-recurring costs, to date, following the reorganisation of the National Health Service.
§ Mrs. Castle:Non-recurring costs attributable to the National Health Service reorganisation for the period to 31st 98W March 1974 were£4.3 million. Firm figures for 1974–75 are not yet available, but the non-recurring costs are provisionally estimated at£1.6 million.