§ Ms WalleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what funding for the NHS per head of population was spent on primary care and secondary care in(a) North Staffordshire, (b) the West Midlands and (c) on average in England in 2001–02. [83547]
§ Mr. HuttonInformation on the expenditure per weighted head of population on primary, secondary and total healthcare in North Staffordshire Health Authority, West Midlands Region and England is shown in the table.
2001–02 expenditure on primary and secondary healthcare per weighted head of population £ per head Primary Secondary Total North Staffordshire HA 199.86 691.34 891.20 West Midlands region 212.88 616.79 829.67 All England 207.75 603.49 811.24 Notes:
1.In many health authorities there are factors which distort the expenditure per head. These include:
the health authority acting in a lead capacity to commission healthcare on behalf of other health bodies;
and asset revaluations in NHS trusts being funded through
health authorities.
For these reasons expenditure per head cannot be compared reliably between health authorities.
2. Allocations per weighted head of population provide a much more reliable measure to identify differences between funding of health authorities.
3. Expenditure is taken from audited health authority and primary care trust summarisation forms which are prepared on a resource basis and therefore differ from cash allocations in the year. The expenditure is the expenditure on primary, secondary and total healthcare by the health authority and by the primary care trusts within each health authority area. The majority of General Dental Services expenditure is not included in the health authority or primary care trust summarisation forms and is separately accounted for by the Dental Practice Board. An element of pharmaceutical services expenditure is accounted for by the Prescription Pricing Authority and not by health authorities.
4. Health authorities and primary care trusts should account for their expenditure on a gross basis. This results in an element of double counting in 2001–02 where one body acts as the main commissioner and is then reimbursed by other bodies. This has been removed to provide comparability in the answer as far as possible.
Sources:
Health authority audited summarisation forms 2001–02
Primary care trust audited summarisation schedules 2001–02
Weighted population estimates 2001–02
Regional comparisons are all based on those existing in 2001–02