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24 Mar 2004 : Column 910W—continued

Local Government Grants

Miss McIntosh: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what the effective grant increase to Harrogate borough council is in financial year 2004–05. [163040]

Mr. Raynsford: Harrogate borough council received a formula grant increase of £249,000 (3 per cent.) compared to the 2003–04 formula grant after adjusting for changes in funding and function i.e. on a like-for-like basis.

London Electorate

Mr. Gardiner: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what steps he is taking to ensure that the London electorate is able to understand (a) the range of elections in June and (b) the different voting system they will have to use. [163378]

Keith Hill: Responsibility for promoting voter understanding in the June elections to the Greater London Authority and European Parliament rests with the Electoral Commission under the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000. The Greater London Returning Officer has overall responsibility for organising and running the GLA elections and, in 2004, the European Parliament elections in the London region. I understand that the Electoral Commission and Greater London Returning Officer are working in partnership on a programme of public information and awareness.

The Government have made provision for the Greater London Returning Officer to include information about the GLA and European Parliamentary elections in the

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booklet of election addresses by the Mayoral candidates, which the Greater London Returning Officer compiles and which will be delivered to each elector. The election rules also require the Greater London Returning Officer to provide notices for the guidance of voters which must be displayed at polling stations and for similar information to be sent to postal voters.

Ministerial Meetings

Mr. Hammond: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister when he last met members or officials of the Electoral Commission; what the purpose of that meeting was; and what the outcome was. [161002]

Phil Hope: My right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister met with members of the Electoral Commission on 3 March to discuss issues relating to the piloting of all-postal voting at the European Parliamentary and combined local elections in June, including how many regions should be involved. Both parties agreed that the regions that the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister announced should use all-postal voting this year are each capable of running a successful pilot.

Regional Bodies

Mr. Neil Turner: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will list the locations of the offices of regional bodies and agencies for which his Department is responsible, broken down by county. [162576]

Phil Hope: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister is responsible for no regional bodies. The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister is responsible for the Government Offices for the Regions (GOs). The GOs are part of central Government and not regional bodies in their own right.

Supporting People Initiative

Mr. Kidney: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister (1) if he will review the proposed cuts in the Supporting People allocations for 2004–05 with a view to protecting from those cuts local authorities with low per head of population allocations; [159932]

(2) if he will reverse the proposed cuts in the Supporting People allocations for 2004–05 in respect of individual local authorities, with particular reference to Staffordshire. [159875]

Yvette Cooper: Following the late sharp increase in the size of the Supporting People budget last year the Government launched an Independent Review into the Supporting People programme. The review concluded that £1.8 billion was too much to pay for legacy funding, however it recommended that the pace of change needed to take account of the need to protect services for vulnerable people. This is why authorities have only been required to make a 2.5 per cent. efficiency saving in 2004–05 with an element of these funds being re-allocated elsewhere on the programme. The final Supporting People grant allocations for 2004–05 have now been made and will not be reverted. Those allocations reflect a very significant increase in funding compared to two years ago.

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Decisions about longer-term future allocations are still under consideration, but we are looking at the wide variation in provision and circumstances between authorities. The intention has always been to move towards a needs based allocation formula, the Independent Review has made recommendations on the formula and we are looking at these recommendations in detail.

Mr. Kidney: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister pursuant to the written statement of 12 February 2004, Official Report, column 84WS, on Supporting People Programme 2004–05, whether reductions in funding allocation for the Supporting People Programme 2005–06 will only apply to local authorities with high unit costs. [160774]

Yvette Cooper: Future funding for Supporting People is being considered as part of the Spending Review 2004. Additionally an accelerated inspection programme will look at 19 high cost authorities to help address this issue.

Mr. Kidney: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister when he will announce funding allocations for the Supporting People Programme 2005–06. [160775]

Yvette Cooper: The Supporting People funding allocations for 2005–06 for England will be announced by November 2004.

Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will make a statement on the future funding of the Supporting People Programme for (a) 2004–05 and (b) 2005–06 in (i) the North West and (ii) Lancashire. [161350]

Yvette Cooper: The Supporting People Programme Grant Allocations for England for 2004–05 were announced on 12 February 2004. Future years funding for the programme is being considered as part of the Spending Review 2004.

HEALTH

Agency Staff

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will estimate the cost of agency spending on staff other than doctors and nurses in the NHS in (a) England and (b) each strategic health authority for each year since 1997, broken down by category of staff. [144782]

Mr. Hutton: The National Health Service does not separately record the cost of employing agency staff. The following figures include total cost to the NHS of staff (excluding doctors and nurses) not directly employed by NHS bodies.

The table shows all non-National Health Service staff expenditure incurred by health authorities, NHS trusts and primary care trusts in England, broken down by staff category, excluding non-NHS doctors and non-NHS nurses. Details of expenditure in each health authority area for the years in question have been placed in the Library.

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Expenditure on non NHS staff (excluding doctors and nurses—England)£

Staff Category (by NHS classification)	1997–98	1998–99	1999–2000	2000–01	2001–02	2002–03
Dental Staff	1,332,649	933,032	764,933	3,131,477	4,405,459	5,117,828
Scientific, Therapeutic and Technical Staff	69,770,807	93,972,343	111,556,549	148,760,849	195,072,433	233,304,815
Administrative and Clerical Staff	59,577,521	72,006,752	89,992,230	117,545,163	153,690,347	172,345,658
Maintenance and Works Staff	3,240,005	4,195,167	4,370,933	5,089,984	5,770,689	6,668,042
Ambulance Staff	197,276	92,964	173,807	620,184	207,693	655,253
Healthcare Assistants and Other Support Staff	26,791,401	30,398,979	34,113,979	38,497,530	44,929,553	58,713,051
Other Employees	15,535,029	18,206,059	21,326,417	24,896,308	32,897,809	77,766,180
England Total	176,444,688	219,805,296	262,298.848	338,541,495	436,973,983	554,570,827

Note:

1. Annual Financial Returns of Health Authorities, 1997–98 to 2001–02

2. Annual Financial Returns of Strategic Health Authorities, 2002–03

3. Annual Financial Returns of NHS Trusts, 1997–98 to 2002–03

4. Annual Financial Returns of Primary Care Trusts, 2000–01 to 2002–03

The separate figures not included in the table for doctors and nurses include all medical staff and all nursing, midwifery and health visiting staff. All data for 2002–03 are provisional

Biomedical Sciences

Mr. Cummings: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the current role of the Workforce Development Confederation of the NHS is in providing training and support for biomedical sciences for the NHS. [161029]

Mr. Hutton: Workforce development confederations are responsible for developing the existing and future workforce of the National Health Service, including those working in biomedical sciences. This includes assessment of the right number of staff and strategies to ensure that they are in place, including support for training and recruitment and retention initiatives.

The Higher Education Funding Council for England funds the majority of undergraduates in biomedical sciences. The NHS multi-professional education and training budget funds the year in service leading to state registration.

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