§ Mr. John HughesTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) what information he has on the Coventry doctors deputising service's extra availability for heavily deprived areas;
(2) what information he has for each of the last five years for the spending on the Coventry doctors deputising service and the deputising usage rates for each family practitioner committee;
(3) what information he has as to the proposed 30 per cent. cut in the Coventry doctors deputising service; and on whose instructions the decision was taken.
§ Mr. NewtonWithin the framework of the Department's guidance issued to family practitioner committees, policy on consent to use is a matter for individual FPCs to determine taking into account local conditions which may be modified for different parts of their area. I regret, therefore, that information on levels of usage is not readily available centrally. Nor is information held centrally on GPs' expenses specifically incurred for deputising services.
As far as Coventry is concerned, I understand that the FPC has no plans to cut levels of consent by 30 per cent. and that the needs of deprived areas are taken into account in deciding permitted levels of use by individual practices.