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13 May 2003 : Column 227W—continued

Foundation Hospitals

Mr. Lilley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health which targets set by the NHS will apply to foundation hospitals. [111540]

Mr. Hutton: Subject to parliamentary approval, Clauses 40 and 45 of the Health and Social Care (Community Health and Standards) Bill require all national health service bodies, including NHS foundation trusts, when exercising their functions to take national standards into account. A NHS foundation

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trust will be independently inspected by the Commission for Healthcare Audit and Inspection against the same national standards as other NHS trusts.

GP Contracts

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the cost of the minimum income guarantee to GP practices in the next five years. [109200]

Mr. Hutton: The minimum practice income guarantee (MPIG) forms part of the proposed new general medical services contract. It will ensure that any practice which would have lost income as a result of the introduction of the global sum arrangements will receive funding equal to its previous level of income from those aspects covered by the global sum providing it meets minimum standards of quality.

The British Medical Association and NHS Confederation have announced details of the MPIG for the first two years of the new contract. Beyond 2005–06, the application of the MPIG will be considered in the light of the review of the allocation formula.

The costs of the MPIG are estimated at £393 million in 2004–05 and £293 million in 2005–06 in England. These costs form part of the financial envelope for primary care investment already agreed between the NHS Confederation, the BMA and Government and which remains unchanged.

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health by when he expects the GP contract will come into force. [110325]

Mr. Hutton: Should the profession vote in favour of the contract, and subject to parliamentary approval of the necessary legislation, the Government's intention is that the implementation timetable would be as set out in chapter 8 of "Investing in Primary Care—the new GMS contract". This lists which elements would be introduced from 2003–04 and elements which would be introduced from 2004–05.

Mr. Colman: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what progress has been made on the new GP contracts for those practising in the London area. [110743]

Mr. Hutton: If accepted by the profession, the new national general medical services (CMS) contract will apply to all CMS practices including those in London. Personal medical services contracts will continue as a permanent complementary local option.

In recognition of the particular problems faced by practices in the London area, the new CMS contract provides for an off-formula addition to the funding available to London practices. In 2004–05, this would amount to £53 million. Taken with the recently announced minimum practice income guarantee this means that no practice in London would lose against their global sum equivalent, so long as they continue to provide the same or a greater range of services and meet minimum quality standards. They would gain from the considerable additional funding provided for primary care—a 33 per cent. increase United Kingdom-wide by 2005–06.

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Health Funding

Mr. Watts: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the timetable is for the implementation of the new health funding system; when primary care trusts will receive their full target entitlement under the new system; and what the difference between target funding and allocation is for each primary care trust. [111173]

Mr. Hutton: The revenue allocations to primary care trusts (PCTs) for 2003–04 to 2005–06 were announced on 11 December 2002. The allocations were based on a new formula following a review carried out under the auspices of the Advisory Committee on Resource Allocation.

For the 2003–04 to 2005–06 allocations round PCTs have received average cash increases of 9.24 per cent., 9.55 per cent. and 9.32 per cent., or 30.83 per cent. over the three years. This represents average real terms increases of 6.84 per cent., 6.88 per cent. and 6.65 cent., or 21.79 per cent. over the three years.

As a result of the 2003–04 to 2005–06 allocations round all PCTs will make progress towards their target shares of resources as determined by the new formula.

The allocations to all PCTs for 2003–04 to 2005–06 include resources to finance the cost of pay reform, new drugs and treatments and additional capacity. It includes the commitments we set out in the NHS Plan. We have also given extra resources to under target PCTs.

Information from targets as determined by the weighted capitation formula for 2003–04, is available in the Library.

Health Services (Havering)

Mr. Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what provisions are being made to increase the level of funding for services for the mentally handicapped in the London Borough of Havering. [110693]

Jacqui Smith: People with learning disabilities use both specialist and mainstream health and social services and benefit from increased expenditure on these. National Health Service expenditure is increasing by an average 7.5 per cent., per year over the next three years.Over the six years to 2002–03, funding to local councils for personal social services has increased by over 20 per cent., or 3 per cent. above inflation each year and will continue to increase over the next three years at around 6 per cent, above inflation; however, most

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resources are allocated on an unhypothecated basis and it is for local councils to decide how much to allocate to learning disability services.

The proportion of the social services budget nationally spent on learning disability has increased from 7 per cent, in 1983 to 14 per cent. in 2001–02. Learning Disability Partnership Boards can have a role in influencing the way in which councils allocate resources.

On a like for like basis, the London Borough of Havering's social services resources increased by 10.1 per cent. in 2001–02 and by 6.4 per cent. in 2002–03. Our proposals for improving services for people with learning disabilities, their families and carers are set out in the White Paper Valuing People: A New Strategy for Learning Disability for the 21st Century (Cm. 5086), published in March 2001. The White Paper announced two new funds to provide central support for key aspects of its programme; the Implementation Support Fund and the Learning Disability Development Fund.

On 1 April, we announced in Making Change Happen (HC514–11), the Government's annual report on learning disability, that the Implementation Support Fund would continue at £2.3 million for 2003–04 and at £2 million for 2004–05 and 2005–06. The fund is used mainly to support local advocacy projects and the Learning Disability Helpline. The £42.6 million Development Fund will continue to March 2004; priorities for the £20.6 million revenue element include modernising day centres, developing supported living approaches for people with learning disabilities living with older carers and supporting the wider introduction of person centred planning.

In 2002–03, Barking and Havering Health Authority was allocated £88,000 from the revenue element of the Development Fund in respect of the London Borough of Havering; the allocation to Havering Primary Care Trust for 2003–04 is £89,000.

Hospitals (Leavers)

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many hospital-based doctors and consultants have left the NHS in each of the past five years. [110948]

Mr. Hutton: We do not collect data on the number of leavers and joiners in the national health service. Work force data are collected through the annual Department of Health medical and work force census. The census is a snapshot of data as of 30 September in the appropriate year. The information in the table shows the net increases in the number of consultants in each of the last five years.

Hospital, public health medicine and community health services (HCHS)—medical and dental staff 1997 to 2001—England at 30 SeptemberNumber⁽⁴⁸⁾

	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001
All medical and dental staff	66,836	68,458	70,000	71,688	73,846
of which:
Consultant	21,373	22,224	23,225	24,306	25,690
of which hospital:
Hospital medical and dental staff	62,048	63,871	65,796	67,561	70,022
of which:
Hospital consultant	20,766	21,607	22,596	23,625	24,994

⁽⁴⁸⁾ Headcount

Source:

Department of Health medical and dental work force census

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Leonard Cheshire Foundation

Mr. Boswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what discussions he has had with the Leonard Cheshire Foundation on its report on access to primary care for disabled people, with particular reference to (a) premises, (b) staff training and (c) consultation with disabled people. [105896]

Mr. Hutton: The Government welcome this report and I attended its launch on 26 March. I wrote to the Leonard Cheshire Foundation on 25 April setting out the actions the Department of Health is already taking to offer better access to people with disabilities, and the further actions now planned. These include the establishment of a joint group with the Disability Rights Commission (DRC) to develop a programme to address disability equality issues; placing a new duty on national health service bodies to involve and consult patients and the public (including disabled people and groups) in developing services; as part of a wider equalities and diversity strategy for the NHS workforce commissioning the NHS University to lead development of a new disabilities awareness training plan which will consider with the Leonard Cheshire Foundation and the DRC how best to use the 'Working with Disability' learning package; and supporting primary care providers in ensuring that their premises comply with the Disability Discrimination Act.

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