To ask the Secretary of State for Health what expenditure above that already allocated for 2006-07 her Department plans in Hartlepool constituency to improve community and primary care facilities. (111845)

In 2006-07, £131.9 million has been allocated to the Hartlepool Primary Care Trust (PCT) and this will rise to £144.2 million in 2007-08.

Following the introduction of the new general medical service (GMS) contract, the funding for general practitioner premises forms part of the unified allocations made to PCTs. It is the responsibility of individual PCTs to decide locally what is spent on premises or other areas within the terms of the GMS contract.

However, the Hartlepool area has recently benefited from the results of the LIFT initiative which has seen the completion in August 2006 of the Wynyard Road Primary Care Centre at a cost of £1.2 million.