To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the expected costs are of the Medical Training Application Service in (a) 2006-07 and (b) each subsequent financial year; how many applicants are expected to use the service in each year; and how much of the costs in each year are expected to be accounted for by (i) personnel, (ii) software development and maintenance, (iii) hardware maintenance, (iv) communication networks, (v) security and (vi) archiving. (117376)

[holding answer 24 January 2007]: The central funding costs for the medical training application service (MTAS) in 2006-07 is £1.75 million, which is funded proportionately by all four United Kingdom Health Departments. For each subsequent financial year the central funding requirements are estimated at £1.5 million for 2007-08 and for the subsequent years of the five year contract (to 2011), the estimated costs are £860,000 per year.

This year, approximately 6,000 foundation training posts and 19,000 specialty training posts will be recruited into using MTAS. However, it is not possible to determine the numbers of applicants for these posts until recruitment is completed each year.

The service has been procured on a fixed-price basis as outlined and it is not possible to break down the costs as requested.