§ Mr. Ralph Howellasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will compare the losses shown in statement 8(4)(a) theft, fraud, arson and so on in the summarised accounts of the National Health Service for England for 1980–81 and 1981–82; and if he will show each amount as a percentage of the total National Health Service expenditure for England in each respective year.
§ Mr. Kenneth ClarkeThe information requested is as follows:
Losses due to theft, fraud arson etc. Percentage of total NHS expenditure 1980–81 £833,478 0.009 1981–82 £774,241 0.007 Change (-) 7.1% The figures are derived from the accounts submitted to the Department by all NHS authorities in England except the Dental Estimates Board and the Prescription Pricing Authority which are not covered by statement 8 of the summarised accounts.
§ Mr. Deakinsasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will quantify the progress made since the introduction of the resource allocation working party in equalising National Health Service expenditure per head throughout England; and what was the standard deviation from the mean in the year before resource allocation working party first operated and in the latest year for which figures are available.
§ Mr. Kenneth ClarkeThere has been a substantial redistribution of Health Service resources since the resource allocation working party reported in 1976. Revenue allocations since 1976–77 have provided for growth in services ranging from 19.4 per cent. in one of the most deprived regions to 3.2 per cent. in the highest-funded region. In 1977–78, the first year for which RAWP targets were calculated, the range of regions' distances from target was from minus 11 per cent. to plus 15 per cent.; in 1983–84 the range is from minus 6 per cent. to plus 11 per cent. Taking the target level of allocation for each year as 100, the standard deviation of the 14 regions' allocations about the mean in 1977–78 was 9.5 and in 1983–84 it is 5.9, giving a reduction of 40 per cent.