Written question asked by Baroness Bottomley of Nettlestone (Conservative) on Wednesday, 17 July 2002, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 19 September 2002. It was answered by Lord Hutton of Furness (Labour) on Thursday, 19 September 2002 on behalf of the Department of Health.

Dept of Health

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of the difference in wage costs between Surrey and Durham. - Inc figures.

Answer: Virginia Bottomley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the difference in wage costs between Surrey and Durham. [71913] Mr. Hutton: The weighted capitation formula used to calculate health authority target shares of National Health Service revenue allocations includes a staff market forces factor (MFF) that reflects geographical variations in staff costs. The staff MFF is based on the new earnings survey data set produced by the Office for National Statistics. In the 2002-03 allocations formula the weighting factor used for Surrey was 1.15 and the weighting factor for Co. Durham was 1.00.

Secondary information