HL Deb 24 July 1979 vol 401 cc1803-5

2.45 p.m.

Lord SEGAL

My 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 what are their plans for the future of Millbank Hospital.

Lord MOWBRAY and STOURTON

My Lords, it is the Government's intention to redevelop the whole of the hospital site, as resources become available, to provide new accommodation for the Tate Gallery. In the meantime, existing buildings are being converted to display the Turner Collection and to provide additional facilities for the Gallery.

Lord SEGAL

My Lords, while thanking the noble Lord for that reply, may I ask if he is aware that the longer delay occurs about this matter, the further this building is likely to deteriorate? Is he able to give an estimate of what in the meantime is the cost to the taxpayer of maintaining the hospital in a proper state of repair?

Lord MOWBRAY and STOURTON

My Lords, I cannot give an estimate of what it would cost to keep the hospital because that is now history, but what I can tell the noble Lord is that the immediate conversion to enable us to show various exhibits and to use it for archive purposes will be about £700,000.

Lord WIGG

My Lords, will the Minister be good enough to convey to the Secretary of State for Defence that it would be an affront if this site were handed over to the demolition experts without leaving some memorial to the fact that for the better part of a century officers and other ranks of the Royal Army Medical Corps and members of the Queen Alexandra's Imperial Military Nursing Service rendered yeoman service there, including looking after the first wounded from Mons, and that the British Army will always have an affection for this hospital, particularly those of us who on many occasions have benefited from being a patient in it?

Lord MOWBRAY and STOURTON

My Lords, the goodwill towards and affection for the Army and the Armed Forces on the part of the noble Lord, Lord Wigg, are well known. I have every sympathy with what he has said and will certainly convey his remarks to my right honourable friend.

Lord SEGAL

My Lords, will the noble Lord confirm that he has sounded the death knell of the use of this building as a hospital?

Lord MOWBRAY and STOURTON

Yes, my Lords, but this has been a death knell which has been accepted by past Governments of both the noble Lord's and my party. Perhaps I should have added in reply to the noble Lord, Lord Wigg, that it is not necessary, and I hope it may not be necessary, for the actual shell of the building as we look at it from the Tate side to be pulled down, even in the final development.

Lord WELLS-PESTELL

My Lords, if there is any question at all of the building being disposed of, by which I mean sold, may I ask the noble Lord to ask his right honourable friend to secure some of the money for the National Health Service?

Lord MOWBRAY and STOURTON

My Lords, the noble Lord is being mischievous; there is no intention of disposing of this building for that purpose.