§ 53. Mr. Beithasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what manpower reductions he expects to be carried out by the Northumberland health authority and Newcastle (teaching) health authority.
§ Mr. Kenneth ClarkeWe have settled March 1984 manpower targets for each of the 14 regional health authorities to reflect expectations of service developments and greater efficiency in the use of manpower. Northern RHA has been set a target which on balance shows a reduction of 186 from the March 1983 baseline. It is the responsibility of Northern RHA to determine the extent to which each district health authority should contribute towards the reduction and any redistribution of posts to match service developments. I understand that they have set targets involving net reductions of 33 posts by the Northumberland district health authority and 71 posts by the Newcastle district health authority.