§ 26. Mr. Thorpeasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he will now allow regional hospital boards to carry forward unspent capital allocations from one year to the next.
§ Mr. DiamondNo, Sir, because this would be inconsistent with Parliamentary control of annual expenditure.
§ Mr. ThorpeIs the right hon. Gentleman aware that very often vital capital 239 projects in hospitals cannot be completed within a particular fiscal year, and a hospital board has to decide whether to return the money to the Treasury or use it for a minor project such as asphalting a back path or exit? Is not that sort of nonsense a piece of official bumbledom about which people in this country are getting rather angry and could he look into the matter?
§ Mr. DiamondThis matter has been looked at carefully and sympathetically lest the kind of undesirable attitude which the hon. Gentleman described should prevail. I assure him that when I look at these matters in carrying out my responsibility to this House in connection with public expenditure, I regard these problems with considerable sympathy.
§ Sir J. Vaughan-MorganWhy is the quinquennial basis all right for universities, but not for hospital boards?
§ Mr. DiamondThat does not affect the issue. We are not talking about a quinquennial basis for planning. The grant to the University Grants Committee is subject to exactly the same kind of Parliamentary control as that applied to capital expenditure for hospitals.