To ask the Secretary of State for Health for what reason information on the amount her Department is funding for turnaround teams is no longer commercial in confidence; how much her Department (a) spent on turnaround teams in 2005-06 and (b) expects to spend on such teams in 2006-07; what estimate she has made of the total costs of turnaround support which needs to be met by individual NHS organisations; and if she will make a statement. (103354)

The information is no longer commercial in confidence as contracts are now in place and releasing this information does not jeopardise the tender process. Any new negotiating exercise would not be impacted by these contracts.

The Department will spend in 2005-06 and 2006-07 about £11 million on the turnaround programme at a national and strategic health authority (SHA) level covering local baseline assessments, a national programme office, one-off local support payments and SHA turnaround directors.

The local costs of £22.1 million for turnaround support were published in “Public Expenditure on Health and Personal Social Services 2006”—section 5.9, which is available at:

www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200506/cmselect/cmhealth/1692-i/1692-i.pdf

For category one and two organisations (as at May 2006), the estimated expenditure for external support on turnaround between January and March 2006 was £4,769,000. The projected costs for turnaround for the financial year 2006-07 is estimated to be £15,830,000. These costs include the Department’s contributions of £93,000 towards the cost of the first three months of turnaround support for the category one organisations.

For category three and four organisations (as at June 2006), the estimated expenditure for external support on turnaround between January and March 2006 was £173,000. The projected costs for turnaround for the financial year 2006-07 is estimated to be £1,306,000.