§ Q1. Mr. Maurice Macmillanasked the Prime Minister what responsibilities the Lord President of the Council has or will have regarding the developments in the National Health Service described in the Ministry of Health's Green Paper.
§ The Prime Minister (Mr. Harold Wilson)The scope of my right hon. Friend's present responsibilities in relation to the Ministry of Health have already been announced, Sir, and I have no further information to give the House.
§ Mr. MacmillanWill the Prime Minister accept that this amalgamation involves a unifying of the system of finance? Is it his intention that the Lord President should deal with the problem mentioned in the Green Paper, the double financing of the Health Service from taxes and health contributions on the one hand and rate support grants on the other?
§ The Prime MinisterMy right hon. Friend is still going into the whole question of the basis on which the merger should be carried out, and it would be wrong for me to anticipate what his conclusions will be. Certainly all the relevant issues in the Green Paper, which are put forward for discussion and public debate, will be relevant to what he is doing.
§ Mr. PavittIs my right hon. Friend aware that the very practical suggestions for integrating the Health Service contained in the Green Paper have been discussed for the last five years and that, irrespective of whether it is the Lord President or the Minister of Health, it would be a Cabinet decision? Will he 266 say that discussions will not continue for too long before a decision is made?
§ The Prime MinisterWe deliberately decided that a matter so important, in a sense so human as this, should be published in this form so that there could be free public debate, without the Government having committed themselves to a given solution. The House will have seen the very forward-looking proposals my right hon. Friend the Minister of Health is putting before the House and the country.
§ Dr. WinstanleyIs the Prime Minister aware that we welcome the foreshadowing of the end of the damaging and divisive tripartite structure in the National Health Service, and we also welcome the Minister of Health's final conversion to the idea of area health boards, as first put forward by the Liberal Party seven years ago?
§ The Prime MinisterAs I said, this is a Green Paper, not a White Paper, so the hon. Gentleman should not jump to conclusions with such rapidity. I am sure that he will have a very important contribution to make to the public debate on the Green Paper.
§ Dr. John DunwoodyMay I assure my right hon. Friend that it is particularly appropriate that this Report should come out at a time when we are considering the amalgamation of Ministerial responsibilities? Can we have a final decision on this Green Paper in the fairly near future?
§ The Prime MinisterAlso relevant to the Green Paper and the merger is the publication of the Seebohm Report. The ultimate decision will also have to take into account the recommendations of the Maud Commission on Local Government.