§ Mr. CousinsTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what exercises have been carried out by his Department to determine the excess costs of teaching hospitals; and how often these exercises have been repeated.
§ Mrs. Virginia BottomleyIn the last 15 years the Department has several times sought to determine the excess costs of teaching hospitals, and to establish what proportion of this excess is attributable to teaching—as550W opposed to research, the tendency to treat more complex cases, or other factors. Exercises have been undertaken on four occasions: for the Resource Allocation Working Party (RAWP) in 1975, and again in 1976, and subsequently during reviews of the RAWP formula in 1978–80 and 1986–88.
For the future, my right hon. and learned Friend the Secretary of State has accepted a recommendation from the Steering Group on Undergraduate Medical and Dental Education that the basis and level of the service increment for teaching (SIFT), which is intended to compensate hospitals for those excess costs, should be re-examined in 1992.