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Medical Negligence
Mr. Jack: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what factors underlie the rise in his Department's expenditure on medical negligence between 1996-97 and 1997-98. [6802]
Mr. Milburn: It is too early in the financial year for there to be any figures for 1997-98 with which to make comparisons. Estimated costs to the National Health Service of clinical negligence claims in fact fell in 1995-96 to £149.1 million from £160 million in 1994-95.
Increases in clinical negligence expenditure in previous years should not be taken as an indication that the National Health Service is failing. Rather, patients are developing a better understanding of the treatment and services available to them, and a greater awareness of their rights to compensation when something does, unfortunately, go wrong.
Computers (Century Date Change)
Mr. David Atkinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on his Department's timetable for dealing with the Year 2000 Computer Problem; who is in charge of the project; how many staff are working on it; and what is the projected cost of resolving the problem; and whether the project is on schedule. [7133]
Ms Jowell: The Department has conducted an audit of all its computer systems and produced a high level plan to address the problem. The Department is committed to having all business critical systems fully compliant by the Central Information Technology Unit recommended deadline.
The work programme is being co-ordinated by the Department's head of applications development and support who reports to the Departmental Information Systems Steering Committee on the Year 2000 issue.
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All IT staff have a responsibility for ensuring applications under development are Year 2000 compliant. There are currently five staff dedicated to Year 2000 work.
A fully costed, timed and prioritised programme of remedial work will be prepared by the autumn.
Mr. Jack:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list those construction companies, consortia, banks and any other organisations which have written to him confirming their willingness to proceed with PFI hospital projects once legislation dealing with the vires issues has (a) been passed by Parliament and (b) received Royal Assent. [7419]
Mr. Milburn:
I refer the right hon. Member to the replies I gave the hon. Member for South Suffolk (Mr. Yeo) on 22 May 1997 at column 176 and on 9 June 1997 at columns 299-300.
Mr. Campbell-Savours:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health if money released in the budget Statement for the financial year 1998-99 for NHS expenditure can be used directly or indirectly so as to enable (a) health authorities and (b) NHS Trusts to (i) reduce their deficits in 1997-98 and (ii) carry such deficits forward. [7723]
Mr. Milburn:
Health Authority allocations for 1998-99 will be announced in the autumn. These cannot be spent in 1997-98. However, knowledge of the resources available in 1998-99 will help health authorities and trusts to plan their financial management of 1997-98 with more confidence and influence their decisions.
Mr. Jack:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the actions required to be taken by an NHS trust if its accounts are in deficit at the end of a financial year. [7446]
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Mr. Milburn:
National Health Service trusts have the one statutory duty to break even taking one year with another. If a trust reports a deficit in its accounts it will be expected to recover the deficit over an agreed timescale.
Mr. Jack:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list the NHS trusts and health authorities which were in deficit at the end of 1996-97 indicating the size of the deficit for each. [7762]
Mr. Milburn:
The information requested is available in the Library.
Mr. Jack:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will update Table 2.1 in his Department's annual report taking into account the additional allocation of moneys for 1997-98 announced by the Chancellor on 2 July.[7463]
Mr. Milburn:
We shall update Table 2.1 in the next Departmental Report.
Mr. Jack:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what factors underlay the deficits for (a) Bradford, (b) Dudley, (c) Ealing, (d) Hammersmith and Hounslow, (e) Enfield and Haringey, (f) Lambeth, (g) Southwark and Lewisham, (h) Merton, (i) Sutton, (j) Wandsworth, (k) North Essex, (l) Redbridge and Waltham Forest, (m) Wakefield and (n) West Surrey and Wiltshire health authorities for 1996-97. [7757]
Mr. Milburn:
The factors which underlay the health authority deficits reported in 1996-97 include overspends resulting from extra-contractual referrals, general practitioner fundholder overspends and the need for service changes.
Mr. Jack:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he expects to publish a list of those health authorities which have recurrent deficits. [7761]
Mr. Milburn:
The information requested will be placed in the Library in due course.
Mr. Jack:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list the annual real terms increase or decrease in resources available to the national health service (a) in England and (b) in Wales for each financial year since 1978-79. [7454]
Mr. Milburn:
The annual real terms increases in National Health Service resources in England from 1978-79 are set out in the table. Questions relating to Wales are a matter for my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Wales.
(11) NHS gross expenditure is made up of Government expenditure (raised by taxation), plus income from sources such as charges for services, receipts from land sales and income generation schemes.
(12) The percentage real terms growth is calculated using the GDP deflator of 27 June 1997.
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Mr. Jack: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list the administrative costs of each health (a) authority and (b) trust in England (i) in total and (ii) as a percentage of their budget for 1996-97. [7452]
Mr. Milburn: The information requested is contained in the publication "Health Authority Costs and Management Costs in National Health Service Trusts" published in March 1997, copies of which are available in the Library. This details individual health authority costs and trust management costs for 1995-96, as well as planned costs in 1996-97. Final accounts figures for Health Authority costs and trust management costs in 1996-97 are expected to be available towards the end of the year.
Waiting Lists
Mr. Jack: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will publish by speciality for each hospital trust the numbers of people on their waiting lists in May (a) 1992 and (b) 1997. [7453]
Mr. Milburn: Waiting list information for all trusts is collected quarterly and is not therefore available for the month of May. The latest information, which shows numbers of patients waiting by trust, specialty and six-month timebands, is contained in "Hospital Waiting List Statistics: England at 31 March 1997", copies of which are available in the Library, as is the corresponding publication giving the position on 31 March 1992.
Elderly Care Beds (North Staffordshire)
Ms Walley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will place in the Library copies of the minutes of meetings relating to ward changes involving elderly care beds in North Staffordshire as supplied to the North Staffordshire Community Health Council. [7449]
Mr. Boateng: I will arrange for copies to be placed in the Library shortly. The Government are committed to ensure openness within the National Health Service and full consultation on substantial variations in service that affect patient care.
Private Health Insurance
Mr. Colvin: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will estimate the impact on NHS waiting lists of the abolition of tax relief on private health insurance for the elderly; and if he will make a statement. [8533]
Mr. Milburn:
Any such estimate would be pure speculation. Most of the people who benefited from the tax relief were existing policy holders. It would be wrong
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to assume that they will turn to the National Health Service in large numbers for treatment because the relief which had not been available when they first opted for private health insurance was now being withdrawn.
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