§ Mr. HealdTo ask the Secretary of State for Health whether(a) assets and (b) liabilities will be transferred to strategic health authorities; and if he will make a statement. [45940]
§ Mr. HuttonSubject to legislation enabling strategic health authorities to be established, assets and liabilities appropriate to their role will be transferred to them.
Most assets and liabilities which currently rest with health authorities are expected to transfer to primary care trusts along with the health commissioning functions.
§ Mr. HealdTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what accumulated NHS deficits there are within each health authority area; [45939]
(2) what (a) current and (b) accumulated deficits there are in health authorities. [45938]
§ Mr. HuttonThe introduction of resource accounting and budgeting across all Government Departments from 2001–02 means that health authorities are no longer required to account on an income and expenditure basis. The concept of accumulated income and expenditure deficits is, therefore, no longer applicable, having been replaced by a measure which seeks to ensure that health authorities live within the approved resource limits set by the Department.
By the year end, we expect all health authorities to live within their agreed resource limits and not to overspend.