§ Mr. AshleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Services what monitoring there is by his Department of the equity of the criteria used by the regional health authorities to distribute resources to the districts.
§ Mr. NewtonThe Department monitors regional health authorities' resource allocation methodologies and plans through the regions' long-term strategic plans and annual short-term programmes. As one of the central issues in these plans and programmes, resource distribution may also be discussed in regions' annual accountability reviews with Ministers and the National Health Service management board.