§ Mr. Tim SmithTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Services why the annual report of the National Health Service contains no accounts.
(2) what were the total assets of the National Health Service at 31 March 1987;
(3) what was the total value of the outputs of the National Health Service during the year ended 31 March 1987.
§ Mrs. Currie[holding answer 12 February 1988: Summarised accounts of regional and district health authorities together with summarised accounts of family practitioner committees in England are audited by the National Audit Office, laid before Parliament and published annually as a House of Commons paper (House of Commons paper 20 of 1986–87 contains information for 1985–86). An equivalent publication for 1986–87 accounts was very recently published as House of Commons paper 606 of 1987–88.
The accounts of health authorities and family practitioner committees record their annual capital expenditure and income but there is no record in a balance sheet of capital assets, nor any provision for depreciation of such assets in the revenue accounts. The outputs of the authorities and committees are not valued as such but are recorded as expenditure.
Following is the information for England for 1986–87 included in House of Commons paper 606.
785W
Statement of working balances as at 31 March 1987 Health Authorities1 Family Practitioner Committees £000 £000 Current Assets Stocks 212,649 — Debtors 278,130 5,169
Health Authorities1 Family Practitioner Committees £000 £000 Cash and Bank Balances (42,962)2 215 Total 447,817 5,384 1Regional and district health authorities and the special health authorities for the London postgraduate teaching hospitals. 2Cash book balances (ie reflecting the value of unpresented cheques as at 31 March 1987).
Expenditure for the year ended 31 March 1987 Health Authorities—Hospital and Community Health Services £000 Capital Expenditure Hospital Services 8,255,383 Community Health Services 1,054,580 Other Services 572,464 Headquarters Administration 434,739 10,317,166 Capital Expenditure 936,291 Total Expenditure 11,253,457
Family Practitioner Committees £000 Family Practitioner Committees Administration Current Expenditure 46,662 Capital Expenditure 3,109 49,771 Family Practitioner Services General Medical Services 1,134,612 Pharmaceutical Services 1,696,073 General Dental Services 530,550 General Ophthalmic Services 130,725 3,491,960 Total Expenditure 3,541,731