§ Baroness Noakesasked Her Majesty's Government:
What amount of allocations to the National Health Service for 2001–02 was ring-fenced for expenditure on information management and technology; how much was actually spent; and 141WA which National Health Service bodies did not spend the full ring-fenced amount on the matters for which the allocations were intended. [HL3567]
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health (Lord Hunt of Kings Heath)A sum of £113 million was "hypothecated" for information management and technology for 2001–02. Local plans identified that £30 million was targeted at information management and technology development. The remainder was deployed against other local pressures.
In recognition of this pressure a further £50 million was made available during 2001–02 to pursue connectivity targets. The whole of this additional amount was used for investment in desktop hardware, software and local networks.
We do not collect data of total spend on IM&T by individual National Health Service bodies against specific targets.
1996–97 Outturn £ million 1997–98 Outturn £ million 1998–99 Outturn £ million 1999–2000 Outturn £ million 2000–01 Estimated outturn £ million 2001–02 Plan £ million UK Net Expenditure1 41,276 43,212 45,615 49,588 54,680 59,718 Real terms increase over 1996–97 £ million 643 1,771 4,418 8,236 11,480 Real terms increase over 1996–97 per cent 1.6 4.3 10.7 20.0 27.8 1 Fig are on a resource basis.