To ask the Secretary of State for Health what was the revenue expenditure of each regional health authority on health service facilities for patients with a mental handicap for each year since 1981, in cash terms and at 1991 prices.

Prior to the adoption of the recommendations of the Sixth report of the Steering Group on Health Service Information (the Korner Committee) in 1987–88, the information collected for England was incomplete and unrepresentative of the total expenditure provision for people with a learning disability (ie mental handicap). Information derived from Korner annual financial returns for the years since 1987–88 is shown in the table. Those financial returns provide a more complete indication of total expenditure but exclude general services costs and do not capture all relevant direct costs incurred within community health services.