HL Deb 03 June 2003 vol 648 cc133-4WA
Baroness Masham of Ilton

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether the preparedness of primary care trusts to assume responsibility for specialised commissioning has improved since the Department of Health conducted a review last year.[HL2786]

Baroness Andrews:

A number of activities have taken place to develop and improve primary care trust (PCT) commissioning skills since PCTs assumed responsibility for commissioning specialised services last April and took over membership of specialised commissioning groups. The National Primary and Care Trusts Development Programme (NatPaCT) has published information on improving commissioning, which includes specialised services. This will be revised on an ongoing basis.

Guidance issued on 31 March 2003 reaffirms that all PCTs should belong to collaborative specialised services commissioning groups with a two-tier structure being established: Level 1 groups with planning populations between 1 million and 2 million and Level 2 groups for specialised services with planning population between 3 million and 6 million. Strategic health authorities will oversee and performance manage these collaborative specialised services commissioning arrangements.

Baroness Masham of Ilton

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether they will protect spending on specialised services in real terms for a further year given the delay in publication of the Hutton review. [HL2787]

Baroness Andrews:

To ensure stability during 2002–03, whilst primary care trusts assumed responsibility for commissioning specialised services, primary care trusts were asked to honour previously agreed financial commitments and programmes of service reviews for specialised services. This commitment will not be extended to 2003–04.

Primary care trusts will receive an extra £12.7 billion over the next three years. This amounts to an average increase over the three years of 30.83 per cent. This certainty of funding will enable health communities to plan their finances and will provide a surer foundation for PCTs to commission services in a way which will deliver improved performance.