§ Mr. MichaelTo ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will order an investigation into Powys health authority's recent inability to find money to buy wardrobes for long stay patients on ward D at Bronllys.
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§ Mr. Nicholas BennettNo. This is a matter for Powys health authority, which advises that the residents on Defynnog ward have individual wardrobes.
§ Mr. MichaelTo ask the Secretary of State for Wales what changes he intends to make to the level of finances he will give to health authorities in Wales and the way the cash is distributed; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Nicholas BennettMy right hon. Friend is considering the changes needed to bring the distribution of resources to health authorities in Wales in line with the new arrangements introduced by the NHS and Community Care Act 1990. The service was consulted on proposals for capital funding last year and consideration is now being given to the detail of their implementation. A consultation paper on options for a new revenue formula was issued last week and copies have been placed in the Library of the House.
The level of funding required by health authorities in Wales is determined each year in the context of public expenditure plans and my right hon. Friend will be making an announcement in due course on the allocations to health authorities for the next financial year.
§ Mr. MichaelTo ask the Secretary of State for Wales whether the increase of £183 million in expenditure on the national health service in Wales, announced in his Department's press release of 12 December, includes the £11 million to be found from cuts and income generation schemes which he refers to in the same press release.
§ Mr. Nicholas BennettI am most grateful to the hon. Gentleman for the opportunity to clarify the position.
The expected £11 million from cost improvements and income generation is in addition to the £183 million increase in Welsh Health Spending announced in December last year. The NHS in Wales will therefore benefit from both the record cash increase and the internally generated funds in its continuing drive to put the interests of patients first and deliver the highest possible standard of care.
It is, or course, wrong and misleading to refer to genuine efficiency savings as cuts.
§ Mr. MichaelTo ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will list for the last three financial years, the current financial year and the next financial year(a) the forecast of health service inflation which was being made by his Department when the announcement of provision for each of the above years was made, (b) the actual level of health service inflation for each year for which it is known and his latest estimate for 1990–91, (c) the forecast of general inflation made by the Government and at the nearest available date to the announcement referred to in (a) above and (d) the actual level of general inflation for each of the years for which it is known and his latest estimate for 1990–91.
§ Mr. Nicholas BennettWhen notifying health authorities of their cash allocations each year, the Department informs authorities of the forecast level of general inflation which has been given by the Chancellor of the Exchequer in his autumn statement. For the years 1987–88 to 1990–91 these forecasts were:
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Per cent. 1987–88 3.75 1988–89 4.5 1989–90 5.0 1990–91 5.0 Authorities are also advised that they should make prudent provision for pay and price rises within the cash allocation which they receive. While the announcement of allocations for 1991–92 has yet to be made, the forecast level of general inflation next year, as announced by the Chancellor in his autumn statement is 6 per cent.
The cash increases provided to health authorities at the start of the year exceeded the Chancellor's forecasts. In addition, authorities have received, during the course of each financial year, additional recurrent funding to meet the excess cost (over and above the level of forecast inflation) of review bodies' pay awards (for doctors, dentists, nurses and midwives and for the professions allied to medicine). In 1988–89, authorities also receive additional recurring funds to meet the cost of the clinical nurses regrading review.
Information relating to the actual level of pay and price inflation experienced by Welsh health authorities is not available centrally. This will vary from authority to authority depending on the proportion and composition of their spending on pay and non pay expenditure. However, information is compiled by the Department of Health on the actual overall level of inflation experienced within hospital and community health services' expenditure in England and for the period 1987–88 to 1989–90 the figures were:
Per cent 1987–88 8.5 1988–89 10.5 1989–90 7.3 An equivalent figure for 1990–91 is not yet available.
The information requested on the actual level of general inflation in the years 1987–88 to 1989–90, together with the latest estimated for 1990–91, is as follows:
Per cent 1987–88 5.45 1988–89 7.30 1989–90 6.37 11990–91 8.00 1 estimate
§ Mr. MichaelTo ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will list for the last three financial years, the current financial year and the next financial year (1) the total amount of direct Welsh Office funds, not including cost savings or income generation, allocated to each district health authority in Wales and for each special health authority in Wales and (2) the total expenditure authorised by his Department for each district health authority and special health authority in Wales.
§ Mr. Nicholas BennettThe information requested regarding the total allocations (ie revenue and capital) made to each district health authority in Wales and to the two special health authorities in the period 1987–88 to 1990–91 is provided in the table. Allocations to health authorities and to the two special health authorities for 1991–92 will be announced later this month.
439WHealth authorities have a statutory responsibility to contain their cash expenditure within their notified cash allocations. In the event that an authority's cash spending exceeds its attributable resources, the resultant overspending is retrospectively legitimised by an increase in
Total Allocation £ million District Health Authority 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 11990–91 Clwyd 97.045 108.964 115.684 124.004 East Dyfed 59.335 67.269 77.402 84.958 Gwent 117.356 129.822 138.893 146.224 Gwynedd 59.288 64.496 68.264 72.364 Mid Glamorgan 136.042 151.923 161.917 174.168 Pembrokeshire 22.498 25.906 29.046 30.929 Powys 27.243 29.992 32.569 35.035 South Glamorgan 155.953 173.657 188.941 207.851 West Glamorgan 102.820 115.949 123.696 130.814 Welsh Health Common Services Authority 28.052 26.494 28.448 26.597 Health Promotion Authority for Wales 1.218 1.838 2.303 22.257 1 Notified allocation as at 9 January. 2 A further allocation of up to £0.3 million is available to the Health Promotion Authority for Wales, against which they may submit bids for specific developments in 1990–91.
§ Mr. MichaelTo ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will publish a list showing what proportion of the money spent(a) by the Welsh Office itself and (b) by each health authority in Wales on training for members of the new health authority boards went on food and accommodation.
§ Mr. Nicholas BennettAs indicated in my reply to the hon. Member for Brecon and Radnor (Mr. Livsey) on 5 December 1990 at column151 two events have been held at the all-Wales level. The costs of these have in the main been met by the Welsh Health Common Services Authority on behalf of the health service in Wales. Details are as follows:
Total cost £ Food/accommodation £ October briefing event 124,128 17,511 November event 16,655 10,055 1 Excludes accommodation costs of delegates met by individual health authorities. The Department does not keep records of training costs incurred at the local level by health authorities.
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Programme for the valleys: Expenditure June 1988 to March 1993 (£ million) 1988–89 outturn 1989–90 outturn 1990–91 estimated outturn 1991–92/1992–93 provision Urban programme 11.95 16 18.5 41.5 Urban development/urban investment grants1 2.6 (5.2) 7.2 (7.2) 6.48 10 Regional industrial grants1 28.875 (39.8) 16.1 (38.0) 26.9 42.5 Welsh Development Agency Factories 20.73 22.5 28.5 50 Land reclamation 11.9 15.5 18.5 40 Environmental 0.78 0.6 1.5 3 Urban Renewal Unit 0.7 1.57 3.278 5.25 Investment 2.236 2.41 2.6 — Business development 0.72 1 1.2 3.1 Corporate planning/research 0.1 0.1 0.05 — allocation to cover the overspend. The overspending is recovered in the subsequent financial year when a reduction, equivalent to the level of the previous years' overspend, is made to the allocation of the authority concerned.
§ Mr. MichaelTo ask the Secretary of State for Wales what information he has on the amount that Powys health authority is spending on new flagpoles; and if he will order an investigation.
§ Mr. Nicholas BennettPowys health authority advises that there are no plans to purchase new flagpoles.