HC Deb 19 April 2002 vol 383 cc1244-5W
Mr. Andrew Turner

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what deficit or surplus was carried forward by each NHS trust, health authority and primary care trust and group in England at the beginning of financial years(a) 2000–01, (b) 2001–02 and (c) 2002–03. [50064]

Mr. Hutton

[holding answer 16 April 2002]: Information relating to NHS trust surpluses and deficits for the 2000–01 financial year has been placed in the library. The NHS trust information requested for 2001–02 and 2002–03 will not be available until the annual audited accounts are completed and published for those financial years.

In anticipation of the introduction of Resource accounting and budgeting across all Government departments from April 2001, a change made to the format of the annual accounts from 2000–01 means that health authorities (including Primary Care Groups) and primary care trusts, are no longer required to account on an income & expenditure basis. The concept of income and expenditure deficits and surpluses is, therefore, no longer applicable, having been replaced by a measure which seeks to ensure that health authorities and primary care trusts live within the approved resource limits set by the Department.

Mr. Andrew Turner

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what powers regional NHS officials have to claw back(a) unspent allocations at the end of the year for which they have been allocated and (b) ring-fenced allocations and special purpose grants during the year for which they have been allocated. [50067]

Mr. Hutton

[holding answer 16 April 2002]: HM Treasury allows the Department to carry forward under spends from one year to the next. In turn, the Department allows the NHS this same flexibility.

Section 97(6) of the NHS Act 1977 as amended provides for the Secretary of State to issue directions to ring fence specific allotments of funding. Ring fenced funding may only be used for the purposes specified in such directions. The Secretary of State may, under section 97(5) of the NHS Act 1977 as amended, claw back under spends of ring fenced funding. However this has not been the recent practice.