asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what financial allocations have been made to the Southend area by the appropriate regional health authority in each of the past five years; and what these figures would have been if the distribution had been on the basis of the formula used by his Department for allocating funds to regional authorities.

The information requested is not collected centrally. My hon. Friend may like to consult the North-East Thames regional health authority, which takes local factors as well as the resource allocation working party formula into account when allocating resources to districts.