§ 7. Mr. HainTo ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will make a statement about Welsh Office capital allocations for the planned Neath and Port Talbot hospital.
§ Mr. Gwilym JonesIn my right hon. Friend's statement on 29 October he advised that capital allocations were available for the next infrastructure works on site. It will be for West Glamorgan health authority to bring forward its requirements for future capital allocations.
§ Mr. HainI shall endeavour to stay within the perimeters of Neath and Port Talbot, Madam Speaker. The Minister has not denied that there is a view among the 9 mandarins in the Welsh Office that Neath hospital, in which local people take considerable pride, will be downgraded to a new cottage hospital on Baglan moor —centralising trauma in Morriston and maternity in Singleton—thus reneging on a commitment given to the House last year by the Secretary of State. Will the Minister give an absolute and categorical assurance that the £18 million capital allocation for the construction of the new hospital, with all its planned specialties, will go ahead as originally planned?
§ Mr. JonesI know of no suggestion that there shall be a cottage hospital for the new provision for Neath and Port Talbot. In addition to my right hon. Friend's statement last year, he specifically said in a statement on 29 October that we remain committed to a new hospital on the site at Baglan. We seek to go further and have asked West Glamorgan health authority to conduct a review into the best balance of services in addition to the hospital at Baglan.