§ Mr. BurstowTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what procedures he is putting in place to ensure StHAs have designed their planning processes before the next financial year, as set out in paragraph 6.7 of the document Improvement, Expansion & Reform: The Next Three Years [78420]
§ Ms Blears[holding answer 31 October 2002]: The document Improvement, Expansion and Reform sets out the vision for services over the next three years, 448W describing how national commitments translate into targets for the National Health Service and social services. The process and timetable for developing plans at a local level were also contained in this document.
The new planning process involves streamlining current arrangements into a planning system based on a single three year local delivery plan. This process will be reinforced by the announcement of three year financial allocations to primary care trusts, giving the NHS locally the ability to plan for the medium term more effectively than in the past.