Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)

The final outturn on Vote expenditure for the Health Service Executive in 2006 shows a capital saving of €114 million, of which €42 million was used to offset a revenue overspend, while a further €47 million was used to offset a shortfall in appropriations-in-aid. This left a balance of €25 million to be surrendered to the Exchequer. The Health Service Executive's appropriation account for 2006 will show an overall surrender of €365 million — €25 million capital and €340 million in respect of the long stay repayment scheme.

In 2005 there was an overall surrender of €79 million. The capital programme had a saving of €50 million, non-capital programmes saved €4 million and appropriations-in-aid showed a surplus of €25 million. With regard to expenditure to date in 2007, the latest figures available from the Health Service Executive report total expenditure to the end of May as being approximately €4.8 billion against projected expenditure of €4.77 billion. Within these figures the trend in expenditure is much the same as in 2006. The capital spend is behind that planned, while the non-capital is running ahead of budgeted spend. I have discussed corrective action with the CEO as a matter of urgency.

The capital programmes submitted by the HSE in each of the three years, and approved by me, included sufficient projects to absorb its capital allocation for each year. However, actual capital expenditure in 2005 and 2006 turned out to be less than had been planned.

The HSE has taken steps to strengthen its capital management capacity, including the establishment of a single national estates function and the appointment of a new director. The level of capital funding provided to the HSE for 2007 will support a continuing high level of investment in our public health services and will enable the completion and commissioning of many new acute and community health care facilities.

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