§ 2.36 p.m.
Lord WALLACE of COSLANYMy Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.
The Question was as follows:
To ask Her Majesty's Government under what circumstances the Sun Life Assurance Company was allowed to increase the rent of the South East Thames Regional Health Authority's office accommodation at Croydon from £87,250 per annum to £390,000 per annum at a time when Area Health Authorities within the Region face severe financial cuts leading to proposed hospital closures.
§ Lord WELLS-PESTELLMy Lords, the 1969 lease of the premises at Croydon provides for the customary review of the rental at specific intervals, in this case seven years. The present phase of the counter-inflation policy includes no Government control over rents for business premises. Payment of the increased rental, which was agreed by the district valuer to be on a par with that for 1224 comparable properties, is, therefore, an obligation which the Regional Health Authority could not avoid.
Lord WALLACE of COSLANYMy Lords, is my noble friend aware that I accept the usual courtesies he extends in answering Questions? Is he also aware that I should not have known about this increase had not a doctor friend of mine sent me a cutting from the Daily Mail? Is my noble friend further aware that this diabolical increase of over 400 per cent. comes at a time when my Area Health Authority alone in the Region faces cuts of £600,000, and that next Monday we shall have to sit down and decide which hospitalsߞnot hospital— have to be closed and which services cut?
§ Lord WELLS-PESTELLMy Lords, of course one is not happy at such a substantial increase in the rental of premises, but in the circumstances, having been advised, as I said earlier, by the district valuer, there was really nothing else the Regional Health Authority could do in the matter. This, after all, is their administrative headquarters. I sympathise with my noble friend's point of view. I know that he is a member of the Greenwich and Bexley Area Health Authority which is one of the two Area Health Authorities in this Region which have suffered cuts. This is a situation over which, quite frankly, we have no control at the present time.
§ Lord PARGITERMy Lords, could my noble friend say precisely what is the present cost per square foot of the premises involved?
§ Lord WELLS-PESTELLNot without notice, my Lords.
§ The Earl of KINNOULLMy Lords, could the noble Lord say whether the Sun Life Assurance Company themselves were consulted on this matter and whether they have been asked whether, in view of the cutbacks in local authority spending, some allowance could be made?
§ Lord WELLS-PESTELLMy Lords, I cannot give the noble Earl an answer to that. I just do not know what the nature of the discussions were. Obviously, the Sun Life Assurance Company would be aware that negotiations were going on.
Lord WALLACE of COSLANYMy Lords, is my noble friend aware that, although in the first part of my supplementary I perhaps expressed my feelings strongly, I would now wish to put forward constructive suggestions? Is my noble friend aware, first of all, that with the opening of the very expensive Queen Elizabeth Hospital for the Ministry of Defence, the Royal Herbert Hospital and Woolwich Military Maternity Hospital will be vacant and therefore it might be a very good idea for the health authorities to consider the Ministry of Defence handing over the Royal Herbert Hospital for office accommodation? Furthermore, is my noble friend aware that, since other hospitals are likely to be closed, my doctor friends are suggesting that the Regional Board be housed in the nearest mental hospital which is to be closed? Perhaps I should say that I do not share that suggestion.
§ Lord WELLS-PESTELLMy Lords, I will put the best possible construction on my noble friend's last remarks. We are aware that there may be certain changes necessary in the area to which he refers. We know that so far as his own Area Health Authority is concerned certain discussions are going on at that particular level and we shall do, as we always try to do in such matters, the best possible thing from the point of view of both the National Health Service and the people who are going to use it.
§ Lord LEATHERLANDMy Lords, does my noble friend think it is worth while trying to negotiate with the Sun Life Assurance Company and asking them to be kind ? Is he aware of the fact that these hospitals in the district are keeping people alive for years and years longer than normally would have been the case, and so preventing an undue drain on the Sun Life Assurance Company's funds?