§ Mr. CousinsTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what reasons underlay the rejection of the bids from Newcastle Primary Care Trust and the City of Newcastle upon Tyne for support from the NHS Plan intermediate care funds. [53535]
§ Jacqui Smith[holding answer 1 May 2002]: In November 2001, Department of Health Regional Offices were invited to submit bids against £66 million of capital funding available for intermediate care. Unfortunately, owing to the large number of bids received, it was not possible to fund all the bids from the funding available.
I announced allocation of the "first phase" of £46 million to 80 projects on 6 March 2002. The bid from Newcastle was not included among the bids that could be funded at that time. However, it may be possible to fund further bids as part of a further phase of funding yet to be allocated.