HC Deb 16 January 1984 vol 52 cc114-5W
Dr. Owen

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what are the latest figures available for the number of regional health authority staff and how they are broken down into occupational categories.

Mr. John Patten

The table shows staff of regional health authorities as at 30 June 1983. Because of different practices in the organisation of certain services as between regional headquarters and district health authorities, the figures for different regions are not directly comparable.

Mr. Kenneth Clarke

I refer the right hon. Member to my reply to my right hon. Friend the Member for Worthing (Mr. Higgins) on 3 November 1983.— [Vol. 47, c.465–66.]

All regions pay regard to target allocations when making decisions about the allocation of revenue to districts. However, the method by which the targets are calculated varies between regions. For example, some regions calculate targets which reflect the projected population at the end of a planning period while others use the most recent estimates of the actual population. Such differences make it impossible to compare the position of districts in different regions. Even if the targets calculated by regions were directly comparable, the average of percentage distances from such targets would be meaningless, since districts' allocation are not all the same size.

Since the movement of financial allocations towards targets is only one criterion by which to judge success in achieving equality of access to health care for people at equal risk, we do not propose to set a date by which allocations should be brought within any particular percentage of targets.