§ Mr. Bestasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what evidence he has of increases in staff levels of area health authorities for which finance has not been made available in their budgets.
§ Dr. VaughanThe Department does not collect such information. It fixes the cash limits of regional health authorities in England and it is regional health authorities who fix the cash limits of area596W health authorities. All health authorities are expected to plan to contain their expenditure within their total cash limit with in this total, however, they are free to decide how much to spend on staff as opposed to other types of expenditure.