§ 5. Mr. Hornbyasked the Minister of Health to what extent and by what means he is encouraging fuel efficiency in the hospital service.
§ Mr. VosperPrincipally by making £9 million available in the three years ending March, 1959, for the replacement of obsolete plant and equipment, and by giving guidance to hospital authorities on the best ways of using this money. Hospital authorities have also been urged to employ suitably qualified supervising engineers, to take advantage of a newly-introduced scheme for training stokers, and to make use of the National Industrial Fuel Efficiency Service.
§ Sir K. JosephDoes my right hon. Friend think it necessary to discourage the attitude disclosed in a very facetious article in the Economistrecently which seemed to assume that the very highly skilled population of this country could not learn to look after boilers?
§ Mr. VosperI did notice that article, and I regret the tone it took, because I think that we shall gain great advantage from this course for stokers.