To ask the Secretary of State for Health what guidance or advice has been issued by her Department on payments from the extra-contractual referrals budgets of health authorities for treatment for patients who in the past have paid for similar treatments themselves in the private sector.

Requests for extra-contractual referrals (ECRs) for this group of patients should be considered in the same way as any other ECR request. Guidance on handling ECRs was issued under cover of EL(92)60 on 9 September 1992, copies of which are available in the Library.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people in each district health authority, who have in the past paid for treatment in the private sector, have been refused money from extra-contractual referrals budgets for similar treatments.

This information is not available centrally.