§ Tim LoughtonTo ask the Secretary of State for Health how many(a) acute beds and (b) managers there are in the NHS; and what these figures are as a relative proportion. [75502]
§ Mr. Hutton[holding answer 21 October 2002J: The average daily number of acute beds in England for 2001 is 107,956. This represented an extra 700 beds since 2000—the first increase in general and acute beds in 30 years. This is one third of the way towards the NHS Plan target of 2,100 extra general and acute beds by April 2004.
There are 26,285 (whole time equivalent) senior managers and managers working within the administration and estates areas of the National Health Service in England as at September 2001. The Government made a commitment to save £1 billion from management costs over five years from 1997–98. We are on course to do so and will publish the results once final accounts have been cleared and data analysed.