HC Deb 19 June 1991 vol 193 cc291-2
18. Mrs. Margaret Ewing

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what have been the total funds allocated by the Scottish Home and Health Department to health units seeking to investigate trust status.

19. Mr. Foulkes

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what guidance he has given to health boards regarding the use of board staff premises and other resources in the promotion of applications for hospitals to opt out of health board control.

Mr. Lang

Units applying to become NHS trusts will remain part of the national health service. It is appropriate, therefore, that health boards should provide adequate support. To that end, and to assist in the implementation of the NHS reforms generally, all boards have been given additional resources.

Mrs. Ewing

In giving additional resources to health boards and units seeking further information on opt-out status, is the Scottish Home and Health Department prepared to keep very close supervision over how that money is spent? For example, will it be spent on private dinner parties, or will it be spent on public meetings to enable all the people in the relevant areas to be well advised of the various implications of the proposals being placed before them so that they can take a clear and objective decision?

Mr. Lang

The hon. Lady may be assured that the way in which the money is spent will be carefully supervised. The object of the exercise is to obtain the best possible input of information, opinion and well-argued cases so that a proper decision can be taken, based on the criteria that I outlined earlier.

Mr. Foulkes

As my hon. Friend the Member for Glasgow, Garscadden (Mr. Dewar) said earlier, GPs in Ayrshire have now voted overwhelmingly against NHS trust status, consultants have voted against it and all local ballots show that the public are against it. Is it not therefore a disgrace that public money is being spent on staff time and on Mr. Donald MacNeill's time in promoting NHS trusts, that board property is being used to promote it, and that no similar amount of public money is being used to put the other side of the case? Is not that political propaganda and a matter which ought to be investigated by the Comptroller and Auditor General?

Mr. Lang

I am sure that the hon. Gentleman will agree with me that it is desirable that the proposals should be put together openly and freely, using available resources, rather than cobbled together in some back room. The hon. Gentleman will surely share my view that we want to get the highest possible quality of proposals coming forward so that we can consider the desirability of such applications advancing. As for the GPs, it is highly illogical that they should vote against the sort of contracts that most of them enjoy. I can reassure them that GPs will continue to have rights to refer patients to trust status hospitals and that such hospitals will remain part of the national health service and will continue to treat NHS patients free of charge. The objective is to improve services and the delivery of health care.