§ Mr. David PorterTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment her Department has made of the findings of the 1991 census by the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys into the numbers of retired people in Waveney and their proportion to the total population of Waveney compared with 1981; and what consequential changes to funding distribution she expects to make.
§ Mr. SackvilleThe findings of the 1991 census will be used progressively in the allocation of national health service funds from the financial year 1993–94 onwards as the census results become available at different levels of detail. Deciding the funding of district health authorities is the responsibility of regional health authorities, applying common principles of weighted capitation funding. Health authorities' capitation-based funding routinely reflects their resident populations' age structure, because the average cost of providing health services is higher for people in some age bands than in others. The funding formula gives successively greater weight to people in age 71W bands over sixty five. Projections of the age structure of regional and district populations (including Great Yarmouth and Waveney) which make full use of the 1991 census findings will be used in the funding distribution from the financial year 1995–96 onwards.