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4 Mar 2004 : Column 1129W—continued

Medicines Management

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether the National Care Standards Commission will publish its findings on the medicines management standard in care homes. [156295]

Dr. Ladyman: Yes. The National Care Standards Commission expects to publish its findings in a report to be issued in March.

Midwifery Council (Registration Fees)

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment his Department has undertaken of the impact of the Nursing and Midwifery Council's proposed fee increase on the number of nurses nearing retirement renewing their registration; and if he will make a statement. [154586]

Mr. Hutton: It is for the Nursing and Midwifery Council to decide and justify any increase in registration fees that it proposes. Any increase is subject to Privy Council approval, and the Privy Council will carefully consider all arguments expressed when the time comes.

NHS Consultants

Tony Baldry: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many staff grade posts within the NHS he expects will be made consultant posts in the next 12 months. [156458]

Mr. Hutton: There are no central plans to convert staff grade posts into consultant posts over the next 12 months. National health service trusts can, if they feel there is a need, make proposals to their postgraduate deanery to increase the numbers of locally funded specialist training posts. These may be funded by conversion of staff grade posts and may eventually lead to additional consultant posts.

NHS Finances

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list the (a) information requests and (b) data collections (i) made by and (ii) supplied to his Department concerning NHS finances; when they are collected; when they are available for publication; and at what level of NHS organisation the information is collected. [154584]

Mr. Hutton: I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave on 10 February 2004, Official Report, column 1411W.

In addition, special health authorities also supply annual accounts, capital charge estimates and financial monitoring data to the Department.

4 Mar 2004 : Column 1130W

Annual accounts are published locally by individual national health service bodies. The accounts data collected by the Department is summarised and published. The most recent such publication was in March 2003, in respect of the summarised 2001–02 accounts.

NHS annual accounts data is also used by the Department in the preparation of the Departmental Resource Account. The 2002–03 Resource Account was published in January 2004.

NHS Land

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much NHS land has been included on the register of surplus public sector land which can be sold off on the open market. [154099]

Mr. Hutton: This Department has recently agreed that surplus property owned by National Health Service trusts and primary care trusts are no longer required for the benefit of the NHS should be placed on the newly established Register of Surplus Public Sector Land. This will further the Government's objective of making the best use of such land. The NHS has been informed and detailed guidance on these arrangements will shortly be issued. It is anticipated that the NHS will be major users of the register, including as purchasers of surplus public land owned by other bodies.

NHS Services (Greater London)

Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much money has been allocated to NHS services in (a) Greater London and (b) each London borough in each of the last three years. [158440]

Mr. Hutton [holding answer 3 March 2004]: The following tables show the allocations for health authorities and primary care trusts in London over the last three years. The Department does not have a breakdown by London borough.

Allocations to London health authorities: 2001–02 and 2002–03£000

Health authority(16)	2001–02	2002–03
Barking and Havering	305,009	333,897
Barnet	248,445	n/a
Barnet, Enfield and Haringey	n/a	725,055
Bexley and Greenwich	345,432	n/a
Bexley, Bromley and Greenwich	n/a	635,109
Brent and Harrow	371,479	432,599
Bromley	218,662	n/a
Camden and Islington	396,403	477,910
Croydon	242,431	274,247
Ealing, Hammersmith and Hounslow	581,735	676,038
East London and The City	598,866	702,986
Enfield and Haringey	387,770	n/a
Hillingdon	184,100	203,317
Kensington, Chelsea and Westminster	361,234	436,168
Kingston and Richmond	256,722	284,506
Lambeth Southwark and Lewisham	695,407	829,552
Merton, Sutton and Wandsworth	498,646	563,125
Redbridge and Waltham Forest	351,329	399,542
Total	6,043,669	6,974,051

⁽¹⁶⁾There were health authority mergers on 1 April 2001

4 Mar 2004 : Column 1131W

Allocations to London primary care trusts—2003–04£000

Primary care trust	2003–04
Barking and Dagenham	153,449
Barnet	303,125
Bexley	181,941
Brent	291,023
Bromley	264,585
Camden	264,700
Chingford, Wanstead and Woodford	109,461
City and Hackney	266,159
Croydon	295,063
Ealing	321,825
Enfield	242,179
Greenwich	238,961
Hammersmith and Fulham	192,779
Haringey	244,127
Harrow	178,844
Havering	213,977
Hillingdon	219,844
Hounslow	216,776
Islington	248,319
Kensington and Chelsea	202,056
Kingston	142,871
Lambeth	325,353
Lewisham	283,282
Newham	276,635
Redbridge	160,654
Richmond and Twickenham	161,752
Southwark	282,305
Sutton and Merton	324,770
Tower Hamlets	237,707
Walthamstow, Leyton and Leytonstone	163,981
Wandsworth	275,795
Westminster	263,876
Total	7,548,174

NHS Trusts

John Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the estimated deficit or underspend for each NHS trust in London is in the current financial year; and what cumulative deficit is being carried forward in each case. [154922]

Mr. Hutton: Audited information on the financial position of national health service trusts will be published in their individual annual accounts. This data will be available centrally in the autumn. We have no plans to publish un-audited information.

John Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what discussions he has had with Queen Elizabeth Hospital NHS Trust about ward closures; and if he will make a statement. [154924]

Mr. Hutton: I have had no discussions. It is for strategic health authorities (SHAs) to performance manage the national health service. I am assured by South East London SHA that, although Queen Elizabeth Hospital NHS Trust faces a number of financial pressures, it is working with its partners to manage them and to avoid any unnecessary or inappropriate impact on patient care.

Mr. Hurst: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the cost was of payments to retiring or resigning NHS trust chief executives in each year since 1990 to 2003. [156012]

4 Mar 2004 : Column 1132W

Mr. Hutton: This information is not identified separately in trust financial returns.

Mr. Hurst: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the salary was of the chief executive of each NHS trust in 2003. [156013]

Mr. Hutton: The Department does not hold this information centrally but has asked national health service trusts to include the information in their annual accounts.

Mr. Cummings: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the budget for the Centrally Funded Initiative and Services Special Allocation was for 2003–04; whether this budget has been committed; and whether reserves from the budget will be used to meet overspends in existing primary care trust budgets in 2003–04. [155591]

Mr. Hutton: The current budget for Centrally Funded Services and Initiatives and Special Allocations in 2003–04 is £13,030 million. This budget is fully committed and contains no reserve element.

Out-of-hours Service

Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether the top-up sum available to primary care trusts to pay individual general practitioners for out-of-hours service will reach at least the current investment level. [155682]

Mr. Hutton: The investment in out-of-hours services has been doubled to £92 million from 2004–05. This is in addition to the average of £6,000 primary care trusts (PCTs) will receive for every general practitioner opting out of the responsibility to provide out of hours services. A further £28 million will be made. available to PCTs facing the biggest challenges in developing their out-of-hours services.

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