§ Mr. NellistTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will place in the Library a copy of the report on certain expenditures by North Staffordshire and Shropshire health authorities on private operations, being prepared for him by his Department's statutory auditor, group 4, Birmingham, when that report is completed; and if he will make a statement.
§ Ms. WalleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will give the date of publication of the audit report of the plan by the West Midlands regional health authority for North Staffordshire and Shropshire district health authorities to purchase private operations; and if he will make it his policy to place a copy of the report in the Library as soon as it is available.
§ Mrs. Currie[holding answer 7 June 1988]: The statutory audits of North Staffordshire and Shropshire district health authorities are due to take place over the next few months. Audits take place annually and are not confined to specific areas of expenditure. Statutory auditors' reports normally consist simply of the formal certification of a health authority's annual accounts. They contain additional comments only when the auditors wish to raise matters which they feel are of particular concern. While the audits have yet to take place, there is no reason to believe that the pilot project to make use of the private sector facilities for treatment for National Health Service patients will be one.
The advice issued to health authorities by the Department is that they should normally take any issues raised formally in such reports in open session. We do not consider it necessary, therefore, to place copies of the reports in the Library of the House.