§ Mr. ChannonTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will list the 10 health districts in England which had the lowest revenue budgets per head of the population in the most recent available five-year period.
§ Mr. Sackville[holding answer 30 March 1993]: The information requested for a five-year period could be compiled only at disproportionate cost.
The budgets of district health authorities are set by regional health authorities and detailed information is not collected centrally. However, lists derived from information which relates the expenditure of district health authorities to their resident populations for the years 1989–90 to 1991–92 are shown in the table.
The district health authority figures for 1991–92 are not comparable with those for earlier years as they show the authorities primarily as purchasers rather than providers of health care. Figures of expenditure per head of population for district health authorities will inevitably vary. Those for years prior to 1991–92 will reflect patterns of local service provision and the effects of patient flows across health authority boundaries while the figures for 1991–92 should be regarded as transitional as each regional health authority moves towards allocating funds to district health authorities on a weighted capitation basis. Figures for spending per capita include other resources (such as regional budgets and local income) in addition to allocations for resident populations.
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Revenue expenditure per head of population—lowest annual figures for district health authorities in England £ 1989–90 West Surrey and North East Hampshire 168 Sandwell 167 North Tyneside 166 Durham 162 South West Hertfordshire 160 Northallerton 158 Wycombe 157 Halton 153 East Hertfordshire 150 Chorley and South Ribble 96 1990–91 West Surrey and North East Hampshire 182 North Tyneside 181 Trafford 181
£ South West Hertfordshire 174 Durham 173 Northallerton 172 Wycombe 172 Halton 163 East Hertfordshire 162 Chorley and South Ribble 103 1991–92 North Derbyshire 286 Kettering 281 Southend 279 South East Staffordshire 277 Chorley and South Ribble 276 Medway 276 Wycombe 276 West Surrey and North East Hampshire 268 Huntingdon 264 Durham 209 Sources:
Annual accounts of district health authorities in England 1989–90 to 1991–92.
Mid-year estimates of resident population—1989 to 1991 (Office of Population, Censuses and Surveys).
Notes to the table:
1. The figures for the DHAs are based upon their total revenue expenditure on the services which they managed or accounted for in the relevant financial years. Those for 1991–92 cover their total revenue expenditure including that on purchases of health care and directly related services, administrative and purchasing functions and other expenditure.
2. Capital expenditure incurred by the DHAs and all expenditure incurred by regional health authorities is excluded. Expenditure on family health services, which is accounted for by family health services authorities and cannot strictly be attributed to particular districts, is similarly excluded.
3. The population figures used make no allowance for residents of particular districts who receive treatment in others. The figures used for mid-1991 are provisional and based on the 1991 census.