HC Deb 23 January 1990 vol 165 cc729-30
6. Mr. Stevens

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what was the increase in spending on family planning services over the last three years; and if he will make a statement.

Mrs. Virginia Bottomley

Over the past three years for which figures are available, spending for family planning purposes in England has increased from £76.7 million in 1985–86 to £84.2 million in 1987–88. Family planning is an important preventive service which contributes to better maternal and child health and to the stability of family life.

Mr. Stevens

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for that reply. I am sure we all welcome the increased expenditure on that most important service. Does she agree that family planning plays a vital role in health care? Do the Government intend to continue their financial support for the outstanding Margaret Pyke family planning centre in London?

Mrs. Bottomley

I assure my hon. Friend that we continue to give priority to family planning services and that funding for the Margaret Pyke family planning centre will continue. It is a national centre of training in family planning, training something like 850 doctors and 60 nurses a year. It also does very important work in the prevention of AIDS.

Mrs. Mahon

Will the Minister come clean and tell British women that family planning will suffer under the Bill as health authorities will have an incentive to close clinics, and women will be left with no choice other than their GPs and a much reduced service?

Mrs. Bottomley

The key point about family planning services is that women and men should have a choice of services. Whether they are provided through the family health service, the family practitioner or the district health authority is a decision to be made locally. In recent years, many women have demonstrated that they would rather receive family planning advice from their practitioner than from family planning clinics. That must be a matter for them rather than a diktat from on high.