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4 Sep 2006 : Column 2144W—continued
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many NHS organisations were in deficit in 2005-06; and what the level of deficit was in each case. [88551]
Andy Burnham: 2005-06 provisional outturn figures show that there were 174 national health service organisations, excluding NHS foundation trusts, reporting a deficit. This information has been placed in the Library.
Mr. Dunne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what impairment values were being carried on NHS trust balance sheets (a) in aggregate and (b) broken down by NHS trust at (i) 31 March 2005 and (ii) 31 March 2006. [88670]
Andy Burnham: The information for year ending 31 March 2005 (2004-05) has been placed in the Library. Information for year ending 31 March 2006 will not be available until the autumn.
The table shows impairments reported by national health service trusts for the accounting period 2004-05. Impairment figures are not included in balance sheet fixed asset figures. Impairments cause movements in the fixed asset carrying amounts that are reported in the balance sheet, and so impairments are shown in detailed notes to the balance sheet.
impairments charged to the income and expenditure account in the period 2004-05; and
impairments charged to reserves in the same period.
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether it is permitted for NHS institutions to make surpluses. [85625]
Andy Burnham: The aim is for the national health service as a whole to return to financial balance by the end of 2006-07. NHS organisations are allowed to make surpluses. Where one NHS organisation overspends, another NHS organisation elsewhere in the system needs to underspend for the NHS as a whole to be in financial balance.
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when she expects to publish the first set of quarterly data on the NHS financial position for the 2006-07 financial year. [85786]
Andy Burnham: We published the first quarterly finance report for the national health service for 2006-07 on 11 August 2006.
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what percentage of primary care trust allocations are being top-sliced in 2006-07 in (a) England and (b) each primary care trust. [86473]
Andy Burnham: Strategic health authorities (SHAs) will take the lead locally in developing and implementing a service and financial strategy for managing the financial position within their locality. This will include the creation of local reserves.
It is for SHAs locally to determine the level of contribution to, and application of these reserves. The level of contribution determined will reflect local financial circumstances, but the underlying principle will be fairness. Those primary care trusts which make a contribution will not lose out, because the money contributed will be repaid, normally within the three-year allocation cycle.
NHS Foundation Trusts
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 13 February 2006, Official Report, column 1784W, on NHS foundation trusts, what direct financial support was provided by her Department to applicants for foundation trust status in (a) 2004-05 and (b) 2005-06. [85829]
Andy Burnham: During 2004-05 and 2005-06 the Department provided direct financial support for national health service foundation trust applicants to the sum of £175,000.
NHS Funding
Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans her Department has (a) to reduce capital spending and (b) to increase revenue spending on the NHS in 2006-07. [87320]
Andy Burnham:
The Department has no plans to reduce capital investment by the national health service in 2006-07. Indeed funds allocated direct to NHS trusts and primary care trusts (PCTs) as operational capital for 2006-07 are on average 25 per cent. higher than the
previous year and strategic health authorities' strategic capital funds are on average 13 per cent. higher than in 2005-06.
Revenue spending on the NHS is also increasing in 2006-07. Allocations to PCTs rose by 9.2 per cent. in 2006-07.
Capital and revenue are managed and controlled separately by Her Majesty’s Treasury. The Department is voted separate budgets for capital and revenue and does not have the power to vire funding from the capital budget to the revenue budget.
NHS Hospitals
Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many NHS hospitals there are in (a) absolute terms and (b) per 1,000 population in (i) rural areas and (ii) non-rural areas; which have accident and emergency wards; and if she will make a statement. [84623]
Ms Rosie Winterton: National health service trusts self-report the number of accident and emergency (A&E) services they provide against definitions set by the Department for the three types of accident and emergency. This is the only level at which such information is available. A table detailing the number of type one accident and emergency departments, by NHS organisation, for the period 2005-06 January to March (Q4) has been placed in the Library.
Data are not available on whether acute trusts are rural or non-rural. Therefore, it is not possible to split the number of major (type one) accident and emergency departments between rural and non-rural areas.
Population data at trust level are not collated centrally, as NHS trusts do not have specific catchment areas.
NHS Logistics Authority
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) when the NHS Logistics Authority will be outsourced; [85626]
(2) if she will name those persons whom she has (a) met and (b) consulted in connection with the outsourcing of the NHS; when each such meeting took place; and what was discussed at each; [85627]
(3) whether the outsourcing of the NHS Logistics Authority was tendered for in the Official Journal of the European Union; and what the reasons were for that decision; [85628]
(4) what cost savings she expects to make through the outsourcing of the NHS Logistics Authority; and on what rate the contractor will make a profit in running the authority; [85629]
(5) whether the IT systems of the NHS Logistics Authority will be transferred to the outsource company. [85630]
Andy Burnham:
In the autumn of 2003, the Department conducted the procurement and supply chain review. It identified the significant value brought to the national health service through the supply chain activity managed by the NHS Logistics Authority and
the NHS Purchasing and Supply Agency. The review recommended that this valuable service must develop and expand, allowing the NHS to obtain even greater benefits.
The Department looked at a number of options for delivering the needed development, investment and expansion, and concluded that the best potential opportunity might exist in a new partnership with the independent sector. This reflected the Government’s belief that partnerships between the public and independent sectors can be used successfully to develop essential services in the NHS and elsewhere.
Therefore in August 2004, in accordance with European Union procurement regulations, a notice was published in the Official Journal of the European Union announcing the Department was considering a potential private sector partnering of the supply chain functions of logistics and certain procurement functions of NHS PASA.
This process has been governed by clear public procurement regulations and in March the full business case received ministerial approval and it was stated that subject to final commercial negotiations a contract would be signed with DHL. If approved by Ministers, an announcement will be made soon. Under the terms of the contract, the infrastructure would transfer to DHL.
Details of the proposed cost savings are commercial in confidence at this time but it is estimated that they should be three times greater than the savings that could be achieved in-house.
Since the process began, ministers have met with staff, the unions (UNISON and DTUS), union shop stewards, local Members of Parliament and suppliers. All have sought reassurance that the outsourcing would be in the best interests of staff and the NHS. In addition, ministers have consulted with both legal and commercial advisors.
NHS Managers
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the Answer of 28 June 2006, Official Report, columns 462-3W, on NHS managers, (1) what the change in the number of managers employed in the NHS in England was between 1 April 1997 and 1 April 2006; [84487]
(2) if she will clarify how many managers were employed in the NHS on 1 April (a) 1997 and (b) 2006. [84488]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The number of managers employed in the national health service in England in 1997 and 2005 at 30 September each year was 22,173 and 39,391 respectively. Information for 2006 is not available but will begin to fall with the reduction in strategic health authorities, primary care trusts and ambulance trusts. Managers in 2005 were less than 3 per cent. of the NHS workforce.
NHS Modernisation Agency
Mr. Stephen O'Brien:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what work has been done with the NHS Modernisation Agency since 2002 to change working
practices so that IT is used effectively, as set out in her Department's publication Delivering 21st century IT support for the NHS. [75122]
Caroline Flint: A consultation document, “Delivering 21st Century IT support for the NHS: National Specification for Integrated Care Records Service—consultation draft”, issued in July 2002, outlined the requirements for a national patient care records service and the national standards and specification which would underpin it. Its purpose was to provide an initial review of electronic patient records and to describe a direction of travel for the whole range of information technology standards in the national health service. Nearly 200 initial responses were received from organisations and individuals, and these were taken into account in drawing up the specification for a care record service used in the procurements phase during 2003. A broad spectrum of NHS stakeholders was then engaged to review the specification, including leading clinicians, practitioners, policy advisors, health informaticians, and managers.
Following the closure of the Modernisation Agency in 2004-05 (as a result of the Department's arms length body review) a service implementation directorate has been established within NHS Connecting for Health whose purpose is to help to maximise the value gained from investment in the national programme. This is done by providing support and guidance to the NHS to realise benefits and achieve performance improvement through synergy with other change programmes and system reform, in particular through effective education, training and development. The emphasis is to optimise the use of technology to manage knowledge and information to improve care and treatment, safety and clinical governance, and to re-design processes, supported by appropriate information technology, to improve patient, clinician and managerial satisfaction.
Examples of work done to date in pursuit of these objectives include establishment of an integrated service improvement programme (ISIP) to promote and support the planning and delivery of this kind of transformational change across the NHS. ISIP is focused on helping the national programme for information technology (NPfIT) products to be adopted and exploited by clinicians and managers rather than be seen as peripheral to other NHS priorities and primarily the domain of the IT community.
In addition, the do once and share programme, initiated in March 2005 and involving over 6,000 clinicians, has been set up to minimise unknowing duplication of effort, and to help clinical specialist networks plan improvements in care that will be made possible by the NPfIT. Forty-four national action teams have been established supported by National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, specialist libraries, and the Healthcare Commission to distil the current best practice derived from the NHS's knowledge bases into fifty national care pathways representing current best practice. By the end of June 2006 thirty-nine of the action teams will have produced their final reports, which will enable the distilled knowledge to begin to be integrated into national electronic care pathways.
NHS Connecting for Health has also been working with the NHS to compile programme-wide national programme implementation guidance. The guidance is intended to act as an entry point to all NPfIT implementation-related guidance for programme and project managers in NHS trusts, but is also useful to many other groups including clinicians, human resources, and training professionals. The purpose of the guidance is to provide a structured and consistent mechanism for implementation, and to describe the critical tasks necessary to maximise benefits from the changes being enabled by NPfIT, irrespective of the type of implementation a local health community is undertaking.
The guidance, the first version of which was issued in 2004, is published on the NHS Connecting for Health website at
www.connectingforhealth.nhs.uk/implementation
NHS Pensions Agency
Mr. Wallace: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will make a statement on the future of the NHS Pensions Agency in Fleetwood. [87796]
Ms Rosie Winterton: NHS Pensions Agency, now part of NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA), is currently partially contractorised, with most support services including information and technology, provided by Paymaster (1836) Ltd. The contract with Paymaster contains an options clause to extend the existing contract with the current provider to embrace a range of options and these are currently being considered.
NHSBSA will make the options appraisal work available to the trade unions shortly. After a period of consultation, the NHSBSA will identify which option offers the best solution.
NHS Performance
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to her answer of 13 July 2006, Official Report, column 2073W, on NHS Performance, whether she expects to use her powers under section 97 of the National Health Service Act 1977, as amended, to make adjustments to primary care trust (PCT) and strategic health authority (SHA) allocations when total planned transfers from PCTs to SHAs have been finalised. [87689]
Andy Burnham: Strategic health authorities (SHAs) will take the lead locally in developing and implementing a service and financial strategy for managing the financial position within their locality. This will include the creation of local reserves.
It is for SHAs locally to determine the level of contribution to, and application of, these reserves. The level of contribution determined will reflect local financial circumstances, but the underlying principle will be fairness.
Transfer of contributions from primary care trusts (PCTs) to SHA reserves will be made by inter-authority transfers under section 97 of the National Health Services Act 1977. Those PCTs which make a contribution will not lose out, because the money contributed will be repaid.
Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 18 July to question 82500, on NHS performance, what the impact was of each of the factors listed in the original question on the resource allocation of each primary care trust. [88273]
Andy Burnham [holding answer 24 July 2006]: I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave him on 20 July 2006, Official Report, column 669W.
NHS Spine
Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what information the NHS Spine contains on each patient; and what rights patients have to withhold their data. [88785]
Caroline Flint [holding answer 25 July 2006]: I refer the hon. Member to the replies given to the hon. Member for South Cambridgeshire (Mr. Lansley) on 6 July, Official Report, columns 1249-50W, and to the hon. Member for Northavon (Steve Webb) on 24 August.
When a patient seeks or is referred for medical treatment, this will necessarily involve the provision of information by the patient to the clinicians involved. Good clinical management requires that health care professionals keep a record of key information about their patients, and national health service organisations are required to ensure that the information is held securely, and that confidential information is not shared inappropriately. Patients do not, however, have the right to determine the media on which patient records are kept, the physical location of the information or who manages the information systems involved.
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