§ Sir David PriceTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what is his most up-to-date estimate of the proportion of hospital and community health services' expenditure spent on management and administration, including internal hospital management costs as well as management costs of regional and district health authorities; and what he expects the proportion to be when the proposals in the White Paper "Working for Patients" have been implemented.
§ Mr. Mellor[holding answer 18 April 1989]: Information relating to hospital and community health services (HCHS) and derived from the 1987–88 summarised accounts of health authorities in England is shown in the table. Equivalent information for the financial year 1988–89 will be available in the autumn.
It is not possible to forecast the proportion of total expenditure which health authorities will incur on management and administration after the proposals in the White Paper "Working for Patients" have been implemented. However, since those proposals are designed to increase efficiency and to provide greater incentives to health authorities by encouraging both competition and cost consciousness we do not expect the proportion to increase significantly and moreover any increase in cash or in proportional terms should result in a more effective use of total resources for the benefit of patients.