§ Mr. Marlowasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how factors such as growth and decline of population are taken into account when allocating funds to health regions as a correction on the resource allocation working party calculation.
§ Mr. Geoffrey FinsbergThe latest available mid-year estimates of population are used in calculating target revenue allocations for the 14 regional health authorities. In calculating target allocations for 1983–84, population estimates for mid-1981 were used.
The targets measure the relative need of the regions for health care resources. In making judgments on the allocations we make to individual regions we take account of the targets and of other factors such as population movement since the date for which estimates are available.