HC Deb 26 July 1976 vol 916 cc2-3
1. Mr. D. E. Thomas

asked the Secretary of State for Wales what is the projected change in total expenditure on health care in Wales in the period 1976 to 1980.

The Under-Secretary of State for Wales (Mr. Barry Jones)

From £224.9 million in 1976–77 to £237.3 million in 1979–80, the latest year for which projections have been made.

Mr. Thomas

I am grateful for that reply. Can the Minister confirm that this figure represents an increase of 4.6 per cent. while the comparable figure in the consultative document for England indicates a rise of 5 per cent., despite the fact that the standardised mortality ratio in Wales is higher than in England and Wales and the discharge rates are 100 per 10,000 of the population higher in Wales than in England?

Mr. Jones

The Welsh figure shows a growth rate of 4.83 per cent. compared with 4.2 per cent. for Great Britain, and the per capita increase will be about 1½ per cent. higher in Wales than in England. Given the nature of our problems and economic circumstances, the Government have done all they could for Wales.

Mr. Cledwyn Hughes

Against the background of last week's public expenditure proposals, can my hon. Friend give an assurance that work on the new general hospital at Bangor will go ahead?

Mr. Jones

Yes, I can give that assurance. This £15 million project for which my right hon. Friend has struggled for so many years will go ahead and the signs are that it will keep to the timetable.

Sir Raymond Gower

Is the Minister aware that, although the NHS and the hospital services in Wales could do with more money, as they could elsewhere in the United Kingdom, the budgeting method means that there is extravagant and wasteful expenditure at the end of every financial period with money being spent suddenly, and perhaps without a great deal of thought, on things like television when, with greater care, it could be devoted to far better purposes?

Mr. Jones

I should like to have any details that the hon. Gentleman may have in mind. I should always say "Yes" to more money for hospitals, and the area health authorities are doing their utmost for Wales despite the problems that they inherited and are facing.

Mr. Abse

Does not my hon. Friend agree that the hon. Member for Merioneth (Mr. Thomas) and the Government would have a better sense of priorities if they attempted to show their support for the health service in Wales instead of squandering millions of pounds in acquiring the Temple of Peace, erecting a bureaucracy and creating an apparatus which the people of Wales do not want? Will my hon. Friend suggest to the hon. Member for Merioneth that he needs to discover his priorities and choose between real social needs or an Assembly for which the people of Wales have no desire?

Mr. Jones

I am sure that the hon. Member for Merioneth (Mr. Thomas) knows his priorities, just as I know the priorities of my hon. Friend the Member for Pontypool (Mr. Abse) in no uncertain fashion. I take this opportunity to reiterate my faith in the policies that the Government have put forward on devolution and for the National Health Service.

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