To ask the Secretary of State for Health what arrangements she proposes to make for the national health service management executive to oversee the work of NHS trusts; and where the NHS management executive will base its work of overseeing trusts in the Northern region.

National health service trusts account to the NHS management executive, NHSME, through the six NHSME outposts which became operational in April as an interim measure, pending the management executive's review of options for the longer term. The north-east outpost, which deals with trusts sited within the northern region, is based in Leeds.