§ Sir E. Graham-Littleasked the Minister of Health what is the total number of beds at present contributed by institutions and hospitals under the control of local authorities in Great Britain and Northern Ireland; how many of these are general hospitals and how many institutions for the sick, the infirm and mental cases, respectively; and how many of this total are still administered under Public Assistance Regulations derived from the Poor Law.
§ Mr. WillinkApart from specialised institutions, such as mental hospitals, maternity hospitals, infectious diseases hospitals and sanatoria, the number of beds asked for in the first part of the Question, so far as England and Wales are concerned, is 131,440, of which 73,921 are in 154 general hospitals and 57,519 in 376 institutions of the kind mentioned in the second part of the Question. Of this total of 530 hospitals and institutions about 390 are administered under the Poor Law. I am not in possession of corresponding figures for Scotland and Northern Ireland.