"Getting Ahead of the Curve"

HC Deb 06 March 2003 vol 400 cc1192-3W

Dr. Evan Harris

To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether a formal assessment was made of the resource neutrality of organisational changes set out in "Getting Ahead of the Curve". [95867]

Ms Blears

"Getting Ahead of the Curve" stated that the proposed changes would be cost neutral in terms of public expenditure—that is, the ongoing costs of the Health Protection Agency (HPA) would be met from the funding already made available to the Department of Health—and in particular to those entities transferring to the HPA—via the spending review 2002. It was recognised in the consultation document, published in June 2002, that there might be some short-term transitional costs in establishing the HPA, which would also be met from within existing resources.