§ Mr. BurstowTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what monitoring his Department has undertaken to ensure that the funding announced to support Valuing People and allocated to strategic health authorities and primary care trusts was spent on initiatives to support Valuing People; how the remaining capital element of the LDDF was spent in 2002–03; and for what reasons the decision was taken to change the way the capital fund was distributed for 2003–04. [140474]
§ Dr. LadymanCapital allocations from the Learning Disability Development Fund (LDDF) are included in monthly returns which strategic health authorities (SHAs) make to the Department. It is for SHAs to monitor how individual primary care trusts and national health service trusts use the funds.
Local authorities provide information to the Department about the use of the revenue element of the LDDF as part of their delivery and improvement statements.
In 2002–03, the allocation of the LDDF capital was handled centrally. Learning disability partnership boards were invited to submit bids as part of their joint investment plans. £16.7 million of the £20 million available was allocated to support the development priorities for capital investment in the learning disability White Paper "Valuing People". It was not possible to spend the full amount because of the long lead in time on capital projects and the remaining £3.3 million was therefore used on other centrally funded projects.
In accordance with our policy of decentralisation, it was decided to simplify the procedure for 2003–04 and enable decisions about the use of the money to be taken as closely as possible to the point of spending. The £20 million per annum LDDF capital was therefore distributed to SHAs as part of their three-year strategic capital allocations. This enabled us to issue their funds to them more quickly. Given the long lead in for many capital schemes, making three-year allocations should also enable the SHAs to make better use of the money. SHAs were informed about the change of procedure through the Chief Executive's Bulletin and a more detailed note setting out the priorities for use of the fund was included on the Department's web site.