The official version of this document can be found via the PDF button.
The below content has been automatically generated from the original PDF and some formatting may have been lost, therefore it should not be relied upon to extract citations or propose amendments.
23.10.17
4 Deputy G.P. Southern of the Minister for Health and Social Services regarding
Health and Community Services Net Revenue Expenditure (OQ.210/2023)
Will the Minister provide a split of the figures detailed in the Health and Community Services Net Revenue Expenditure within the draft Government Plan 2024 - 2027 between hospital services and community services, and will she commit to providing a further breakdown of the information to Members before 31st October, detailing all major medical specialisms?
Deputy K. Wilson (The Minister for Health and Social Services):
Thank you to the Deputy for his question. Unfortunately at this moment, I cannot provide nor commit to providing the detailed breakdown for next year’s budget before 31st October. At the moment finance business partners for Health and Community Services are working on the detailed allocations with each service and care group directors as part of the normal yearly budget-setting process. It is expected that the H.C.S. executive team will review the allocations in late November and for them to be finalised and circulated in January 2024. I would note that this will be dependent on what changes, if any, result from the debate on the Government Plan. I can confirm that a Statement of Comprehensive Net Expenditure is included in the annex in the Government Plan.
- Deputy G.P. Southern :
I am going to be very specific. The Minister says that the figures are in the annex to the budget plan; could she point to the page number on which they are because I cannot find them?
The Bailiff :
Are you able to assist, Minister? Deputy K. Wilson :
If I could just confirm, the detail that the Deputy is looking for is not in the annex but the overall summary; the net expenditure is there. As I have said, I will provide that detail once H.C.S. have been able to do their budget-setting exercise.
- Deputy R.J. Ward :
Can I confirm with the Minister that that split in terms of the amount spent on community services and the detail of what those community services are exists and is there to begin with? That is the first part of the question.
Deputy K. Wilson :
In terms of resetting the whole budget exercise, we are going through each service line by line to understand what the expenditure requirement is for each of those service lines. What you will see going forward is greater transparency around where those expenditure lines are targeted, whether they be in primary, secondary or acute care services.
- Deputy R.J. Ward :
Given that that is in development, at what stage has that been fed into the development of the new hospital or will it be fed into the development of the new hospital, because if we do not know what is going to be in our community, how on earth are we building a hospital that is going to deliver the services that we need?
Deputy K. Wilson :
Well one of the things that will need to be factored into the outline business case that is due to come to the Assembly next year will be the detail of the revenue consequences of the model of care that will be reflected in the new outline business case.
- Deputy G.P. Southern :
A final supplementary is a bit awkward because I have got lots of supplementaries. My father said to me at one stage, when I wanted to investigate something and have a look and question about something, I should follow the money. If I cannot follow the money, I do not know what sort of package is being sold to me. That is the reality, and what we have got here is exactly that. I am going to be asked, we are all going to be asked, to vote for a Government Plan by the end of the year and then we will see what sort of health services we are going to get out of it because the money will then be exposed in January. Now as far as I am concerned, that is useless to me and to every Member of the States because that means we cannot do anything, we do not know what we are voting for. Does the Minister not agree that it is rather awkward not to know what you are voting for when you vote for a Government Plan, and will she not agree to bring this breakdown to the States well before 31st October?
Deputy K. Wilson :
I think I have already mentioned that I am not in a position to be able to do that but what I can assure the Assembly about is that there will be real transparency around where we are spending that money in a much more detailed way.