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The cash limited portion of the Authority's financial resources amounts to about £45 million in total, of which about £1.5 million is earmarked for capital developments. Of the remaining revenue, about 75% of costs relate to staff salaries, with the remaining 25% used for a variety of purposes including rent, computer maintenance and energy.
The net book value of assets owned by the Authority exceeds £18 million, a large proportion of which relates to the substantial investment in IT equipment, including several mainframe computers, 1300 terminals, and numerous file servers and PC's. The Authority's estate portfolio comprises of 14 properties, 11 devoted to office accommodation and 3 for warehousing and storage. In total, the Authority occupies over 250,000 square feet of accommodation in 9 towns and cities in the North of England and West Midlands. Five properties, including the Headquarters, are based in the Newcastle area. The Authority employs around 2000 people in total, two thirds of whom are directly involved in the calculation of contractor payments. Over two hundred staff are engaged in the calculation of entitlements under the NHS Low Income Scheme. A sizeable proportion of the remainder are employed to support the information services with the IT Departments. The Authority is now responsible for actual payments to pharmacy contractors. In addition to the cash limited expenditure, non-cash limited sums will be disbursed by the Authority in the order of £4.8 billion in a financial year. This means that the Authority handles, by a considerable margin, the largest amount of cash by a single NHS organisation. |