§ Mr. CousinsTo ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to his answer of 16 October 2003 to the right hon. Member for Holborn and St. Pancras (Mr. Dobson),Official Report, columns 338–89W, if he will list the regional variations in (a) wages and (b) other costs of service delivery in the standard national tariff, broken down by region. [136543]
§ Mr. HuttonThe national tariff is adjusted to give a local tariff for each provider. This is done using a market forces factor (MFF). The MFF takes account of unavoidable differences across the country in the costs of staff, land and buildings. Other running costs are assumed not to vary. The MFF is not a regional adjustment, but is specific to each provider. A table listing the MFF adjustment for each provider has been placed in the Library.