§ Mr. HinchliffeTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what is his policy on the grant by regional health authorities of direct financial assistance to district health authorities introducing cook-chill systems of catering;
(2) why the Yorkshire regional health authority has made a grant of £350,000 to the Wakefield health authority for the introduction of a cook-chill system of catering.
§ Mrs. CurrieThere is no central policy on such matters, nor do I see a need for one. Such decisions quite properly rest with the regional health authority concerned. The hon. Member may therefore wish to approach the chairman of the Yorkshire regional health authority for the information he is seeking.
§ Mr. HinchliffeTo ask the Secretary of State for Health whether the calculation of the figure of £200,000 per annum revenue savings as a result of the introduction of a cook-chill catering system in the Wakefield health authority, referred to by the Under-Secretary of State, the hon. Member for Derbyshire, South (Mrs. Currie) on 25 October,Official Report, column 275, took into account (a) the additional electricity supplies required to run the system, (b) the servicing of equipment, and the maintenance of distribution transport and (c) the cost of microbiological monitoring and monitoring staff.
§ Mrs. CurrieThe figure was taken from the report to the Wakefield health authority on 25 January 1988 and that was made clear in the debate. May I suggest that the hon. Member pursue his inquiry with the district general manager whose finance director wrote the report. The 489W report was accepted by the health authority. I am satisfied that savings can be made on the current catering system in Wakefield while maintaining patient services.
§ Mr. HinchliffeTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) why the Yorkshire regional health authority inquiry into the management of Wakefield health authority did not examine the circumstances leading up to the introduction of cook-chill catering in Wakefield's hospitals;
(2) why the Yorkshire regional health authority chose Mr. Brian Birchall, the district general manager of Wakefield health authority, to chair the regional health authority's catering sub-committee which recommended the introduction of cook-chill catering across the Yorkshire region;
(3) what is the total capital cost of the installation of the cook-chill catering system within the Wakefield health authority;
(4) why the Yorkshire regional health authority has not responded to representations concerning the cost of the implementation of cook-chill catering in Wakefield made to it by Wakefield health authority's former consultant microbiologist, Professor Richard Lacey.
§ Mrs. CurrieThese are matters for the regional health authority. The hon. Member may therefore wish to approach the Yorkshire regional health authority chairman for the information.