§ Mr. KennedyTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what was the revenue expenditure of each regional health authority on health service facilities for patients with a mental handicap for each year since 1981, in cash terms and at 1991 prices.
§ Mr. DorrellPrior to the adoption of the recommendations of the Sixth report of the Steering Group on Health Service Information (the Korner Committee) in 1987–88, the information collected for England was incomplete and unrepresentative of the total expenditure provision for people with a learning disability (ie mental handicap). Information derived from Korner annual financial returns for the years since 1987–88 is shown in the table. Those financial returns provide a more complete indication of total expenditure but exclude general services costs and do not capture all relevant direct costs incurred within community health services.
657W
1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 Region £000 (cash) £000 (at 1990–91 prices) £000 (cash) £000 (at 1990–91 prices) £000 (cash) £000 (at 1990–91 prices) £000 (cash) 374,005 463,056 434,794 502,274 460,946 500,034 488,897 Source: Annual financial returns of district health authorities in England.
Notes:
- 1. The figures for 1987–88 (the inaugural year for the Korner returns) need to be interpreted with caution and those for 1990–91 are provisional at this stage. The figures for prior years have been expressed at 1990–91 prices by the use of GDP deflators.
- 2. The figures relate to hospital services revenue expenditure on the mental handicap specialty and to the cost of nursing services provided for persons with a learning disability within community health services (CHS). The hospital figures cover direct clinical and diagnostic costs only (i.e. they exclude expenditure on support and hotel services etc.). Additional pay and non-pay costs incurred within CHS which are not separately identifiable are similarly excluded.