Vol. 428 No. 5
212 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for Health the details of an agreement, if any, which he has made with the Deputy Chief Executive of a health board (details supplied) about the overruns of £3.6 million for 1991 and 1992; if he intends to make a special allocation to the board in 1993 to clear these outstanding amounts; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
I met the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the North-Eastern Health Board recently. I am fully aware of their plans for the provision of services in 1993 and their proposal for the review of services generally, which my Department fully supports. While, I fully understand the difficulties experienced by the board in previous years, I explained to them that I considered the level of allocation notified for 1993 sufficient to maintain existing services and that officials of my Department will be working closely with the board during 1993 on a review of service matters generally.
In relation to previous years, overspending, the final position in relation to 1992 expenditure is, I understand, being finalised by the board. I will be discussing the funding implications in due course.
