§ Mr. RuffleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Health how many(a) final version and (b) other full business cases for NHS hospital trust computer systems that have a lifetime contract value in excess of £1 million were first submitted in (i) 1999 and (ii) 2000. [147141]
§ Mr. Denham[holding answer 25 January 2001]: Four Full Business Cases (FBCs) for National Health Service hospital trust computer systems with a lifetime contract value in excess of £1 million were first submitted in 1999 and seven in 2000.
These were all final versions of FBCs in that they were all submitted for formal approval. The appropriate regional office of the NHS Executive normally helps a trust to develop its FBC but will only allow the FBC to 48W be submitted for formal approval when it substantially meets the detailed approval criteria laid down by the NHS Executive.
§ Mr. RuffleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Health for each regional office, how many(a) final version and (b) other full business cases for NHS hospital trust computer systems that have a lifetime contract value in excess of £1 million and that were first submitted since January 1999 have been approved. [147142]
§ Mr. Denham[holding answer 25 January 2001]: The National Health Service Executive has approved eight Full Business Cases submitted since January 1999 for NHS hospital trust computer systems that have a lifetime contract value in excess of £1 million. These were broken down by regional office as follows:
- North Western Regional Office—4
- Northern and Yorkshire Regional Office—3
- Computer Systems Eastern Regional Office—1.
§ Mr. RuffleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what the target turn-around time is for the assessment of full business cases for computer systems of a value in excess of £1 million submitted by NHS hospital trusts from presentation of initial full business case to the approval of final business case. [147140]
§ Mr. Denham[holding answer 25 January 2001]: The target time for approval of a full business case, once formally submitted, is two months. The time actually taken will be decided in part by the quality of the FBC and the speed with which the trust responds to any questions about the content of the FBC that the National Health Service Executive may need to ask.
The FBC for a scheme for computer systems is developed by the NHS trust over a period of time, assisted as necessary by their NHS Executive regional office. The FBC may go through a series of drafts over several months, but these drafts are not submitted for formal approval. When the final version of the FBC is prepared, it is submitted to the NHS Executive for formal approval.