HC Deb 28 July 1989 vol 157 c984W
Mr. Austin Mitchell

To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what provision he will be making to fund the additional costs of installation and operation of the management and pricing system for self-governing hospital treatment;

(2) whether he will provide an estimate of the additional costs of running the management and pricing system for self-governing hospitals.

Mr. Mellor

It is not possible to give a firm estimate at this stage; this will depend on a number of factors including the number and types of self-governing units. We have made available an extra £82 million in this financial year for implementing the review generally. Over time, any extra cost should be offset by the improved efficiency which will stem from the changes.

Mr. Maxwell-Hyslop

To ask the Secretary of State for Health why the South West regional health authority breached the requirement stated in paragraphs 11 and 13 of the letter to regional general managers from Mr. Nichol, dated 14 March, that expressions of interest should be referred to regional health authorities so that they can add their comments on all expressions of interest before sending them on to the Department; why the authority members have not had submitted to them for their comment such expressions of interest; and whether he will return for such comment all submissions improperly forwarded.

Mr. Mellor

The chief executive's letter made it clear that expressions of interest could be made by any interested party. It was not open to the region to withhold any submissions, although we were keen to have regional comments on the expressions. How this matter was dealt with in the regional health authority is for the regional chairman to decide.

We would expect the regional health authority to play a full part in commenting on any applications for self governance in due course.