§ Mr. Andrew TurnerTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) whether the financial allocation to the. Isle of Wight, Portsmouth and South East Hampshire Health Authority has been made on the basis of the combined allocation of its two predecessor health authorities in each year since its creation; and what those levels were; [71891]
(2) what progress he has made in working with 1W Stakeholders to recognise island factors in the process of financial allocations for local health services. [71892]
§ Ms Blears[holding answer 22 July 2002]The issue of any additional costs associated with being an island was considered by the advisory committee on resources action (ACRA) in September 2002. ACRA concluded that the arguments presented in a local consultancy report on behalf of Isle of Wight health bodies did not constitute a convincing case. It recommended that there should be no adjustment to the Isle of Wight's target under the resource allocation formula. Ministers accepted ACRA's recommendation.
The initial allocations for 2001–02 were made on an aggregated basis of the two former health authorities. The 2002–03 allocation was made on a combined population of the merged authority. These figures are shown in the table.
Isle of Wight HA, Portsmouth & South East Hampshire HA and Isle of Wight, Portsmouth & South East Hampshire HA allocations 2001–02 and 2002–03 Health Authority 2001–02 2002–03 Isle of Wight HA £108,678,000 — Portsmouth & South East Hants HA £397,591,000 — Isle of Wight, Portsmouth & South East Hants HA £561,429,000 From 2003–04 the intention is that allocations will be made directly to primary care trusts.