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Dept of Health

Answer

Mrs. Calton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how much has been spent by (a) primary care trusts and (b) NHS trusts on the National Programme for IT since 2001; and what spending is projected for the next three years; [159140] (2) what assessment has been made of the cost to each (a) primary care trust and (b) NHS trust for training users of the new IT systems under the National Programme for IT; and what allocation of funding has been made to each for that purpose. [159142] Mr. Hutton: There was no spending on the National Programme for Information Technology (NPfIT) in 2001 nor 2002. The three year expenditure programme started in April 2003 but there has been no local expenditure on the National Programme by primary care trusts and national health service trusts in the last year. The expenditure projection over the three years from April 2003 is shown in the following table and is centrally funded. In addition to this central funding, the NHS spends its own resources on information technology, mainly for existing IT systems. In 2003-04, it is estimated that the NHS will spend around £880 million. About 70 per cent. of this amount will be spent by NHS trusts with the remainder spent by primary care trusts and strategic health authorities. As the NPfIT is implemented over the years ahead, an increasing proportion of the existing NHS IT spend will become available to be spent on additional services under the national programme contracts as trusts make local choices. However, it is too soon to accurately predict the proportion. £ million _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Current estimate 2003-04 330 2004-05 956 2005-06 1,352 Total 2,638 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Training requirements for users are being developed as part of the detailed plans for each geographical cluster. This will enable the programme to consider the most appropriate ways of providing training and development and produce firmer costs.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

420 c200-1W;420 c202W; 159140;159142

Session

2003-04

Subjects

Costs ICT Expenditure NHS Training

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk