HC Deb 11 February 1992 vol 203 cc461-2W
Mr. Cousins

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what external audit requirements he has imposed on NHS trusts and companies and trade subsidiaries linked to trusts; and whether he has required external auditors to report on the financial performance and prospects of trusts and their related companies and financial subsidiaries to him, to the trust directors, to Parliament and to the public.

Mr. Dorrell

NHS trusts will be externally audited by the Audit Commission. External auditors will certify public annual financial statements to ensure that they represent a true and fair view of the state of affairs of a NHS trust and of its income and expenditure for the year in question.

NHS trusts are firmly part of the NHS and will therefore be included in the Audit Commission's programme of NHS value for money studies.

Financial statements will be adopted by the boards of NHS trusts, and presented to the general public at annual meetings. Summarised accounts will be laid before Parliament.

NHS trusts have no powers to set up subsidiary or trading companies.

Mr. Cousins

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what reporting requirements he has laid on NHS trusts for financial information; what information he has required them to produce in public annual financial reports; and if he will require them to produce information on salary ranges and other data analogous to that in company reports.

Mr. Dorrell

All NHS trusts are required to produce financial information for NHS management executive monitoring purposes on a quarterly basis. Published annual financial statements for each trust will generally follow commercial disclosure requirements. They will show the number of employees receiving remuneration of over £40,000 in bands of £5,000. They will also show the emoluments of the highest paid board member separately and the number of board members receiving emoluments in bands of £5,000 with no lower limit.

Mr. Cousins

To ask the Secretary of State for Health how often he proposes to report the statistical returns from NHS trusts to Parliament; in what form employment returns will be reported; and whether NHS trust employment continues to be included in the overall returns for district, regional and national NHS hospital and community health service data.

Mr. Dorrell

NHS trusts are required to return the same kind of data to the management executive as other provider units, that is, activity data, and manpower information. The latter is in the form of the numbers of medical and non-medical staff employed and the numbers joining and leaving. This information forms part of the national aggregated NHS data returns. It is not routinely reported to Parliament but is included in statistical publications such as statistical bulletins and the annual volume "Health and Personal Social Services Statistics", copies of which are available in the Library.

Mr. Cousins

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what internal audit requirements he has imposed on NHS trusts; whether he has required asset sales and acquisitions to be reported to him and the trust board; and whether he has required companies and trading subsidiaries linked to NHS trusts to report to him and the trust board, Parliament and the public.

Mr. Dorrell

The trust management is responsible for ensuring that an adequate internal audit function is established. The objectives and scope of internal audit within the trust should be based upon the principles described in the NHS internal audit manual. External auditors will report on the adequacy of financial controls, including internal audit, within NHS trusts.

Trusts are required to submit details of major capital expenditure and asset sales on a quarterly basis to the NHS management executive. NHS trust boards will determine what management information they require to ensure that they meet their statutory financial duties.

Trusts will prepare annual financial statements to be adopted by the board, submitted to the NHS management executive, and presented to the general public at annual meetings. Summarised accounts will be laid before Parliament.

NHS trusts have no power to set up subsidiary or trading companies.