HC Deb 06 November 2000 vol 356 cc70-1W
Mr. Harvey

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what studies his Department has(a) commissioned and (b) undertaken in the last five years on the management or administration of (i) National Health Service pensions, (ii) general procurement, (iii) National Health Service payroll and (iv) drug procurement; and if he will place copies of these reports in the Library. [135763]

Mr. Denham

A prior options review of the NHS Pensions Agency, which administers the NHS pensions scheme, was completed by the Department of Health in 1998. A copy of that report was placed in the Library.

On general procurement, the then Secretary of State my right hon. Friend the Member for Holborn and St. Pancras (Mr. Dobson) and the then Chief Secretary of the Treasury, my right hon. Friend the Member for Darlington (Mr. Milburn) who is now the Secretary of State for Health, commissioned a review of NHS procurement by a team from the Cabinet Office Efficiency Unit as part of the 1998 Comprehensive Spending Review settlement. The team reported to Ministers in November 1999. Copies are available in the Library.

The Department has not commissioned or undertaken any reports during the last five years on the management or administration of the NHS payroll service.

In November 1999 the Department commissioned a fundamental review of arrangements for the supply of generic medicines to National Health Service community pharmacies and dispensing doctors. The review was carried out by Oxford Economic Research Associates (OXERA) and their final report was submitted in September 2000. As a next step the Department intends to issue proposals for longer-term arrangements for the generics supply chain, drawing on OXERA' s work, for discussion with interested parties, along with a summary report of the factual basis of OXERA' s findings. A copy of the proposals and the summary report will be placed in the Library.

In relation to branded medicines the Department produced the third Report to Parliament on the Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme. I refer the hon. Member to the reply given by my hon. Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health, the Member for Birmingham, Edgbaston (Ms Stuart), on 20 December 1999, Official Report, column 420W.