§ Mr. Ralph HowellTo ask the Secretary of State for Health how many items of store losses occurred in Norwich health authority in 1981–82 and in each subsequent year for which figures are available; and what was(a) the overall value in each year, (b) the number of cases reported to the police and (c) the number of prosecutions that followed.
§ Mr. FreemanNorwich health authority was established on 1 April 1982 following the abolition of area health authorities, therefore 1982–83 is the first year for which information is available.
The information given in the table has been extracted from the authority's statement of losses which is incorporated in its annual accounts. The table records losses of equipment and property in stores and in use from all causes including incidents of the service (as a result of fire, flood etc.) theft, fraud or arson and discrepancies and unexplained issues.
Information on the number of cases reported to the police or on the number of prosecutions is not collected centrally.
Incidents of the service Other stores losses Number of cases Total value £ Number of cases Total value £ 1982–83 183 31,226 89 32,322 1983–84 165 26,101 112 51,215 1984–85 256 58,235 70 6,504 1985–86 329 55,473 95 22,392 1986–87 423 36,550 55 9,982 1987–88 159 35,716 36 8,092 1988–89 134 40,688 38 130,351 Note: Authorities are advised to aggregate and treat as one case the total net losses revealed at any one store or institution within each year. A loss relating to an incident of the service is treated as a separate case.