To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will publish information on the management costs of NHS trusts in Wales; and if he will make a statement. [6023]

NHS trusts are now required to publish their management costs in their audited annual accounts. The accounts most recently published are for the financial year 1994–95. The following table shows the management costs of NHS trusts in Wales for that year, as audited and reported in their accounts, in cash terms and as a percentage of each trust's income.The definition of management used is the M1 figure devised by the Audit Commission. It includes the salaries of all managers—except those who are primarily clinicians—who earn more than £20,000 per year, and of managers in a few other specified posts regardless of salary, and the costs of management consultancy.Hospitals and other services which are not part of a trust or did not become trusts until April 1995 are not included in the table.Alongside ever-improving health, service and choice, first-class stewardship of resources is a key task for the health service. That is why, in "Caring for the Future", we set the target of transferring £12.5 million per year from management to patient care in the period from 1994–95 to 1996–97. Trusts in Wales are playing an essential part in this, and with the publication of trust management costs this year we can see the first fruits of that policy.The figures are lower than they would otherwise be because of the transfers that have already been made. I expect next year's figures to be lower still, as they will reflect some of the transfers being made in the present