§ Mrs. BeckettTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what budgets have been available for deprivation payments to GPs in each year since the scheme was introduced; and what relationship exists between nationally assessed patterns of deprivations and changes in his Department's budget for such payments. [37420]
§ Mr. MaloneGeneral practitioners' deprivation payments are not made from a cash-limited budget, but depend on the number of patients living in under-privileged areas as classified by the Jarman index. These payments are adjusted each year for population movements. Areas were reclassified this year to allow for the use of 1991 census data in the index. The table gives the annual payments in England since the scheme was introduced.
GMS expenditure deprivation payments England England £000s 1990–91 28,759.606 1991–92 30,906.801