§ Mr. Litterickasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what would be the short- and long-term employment consequences of £100 million additional expenditure on new facilities in the National Health Service; and what would be the effect of £100 million additional revenue.
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§ Mr. MoyleA capital investment of £100 million in Health Service facilities would have a short-term employment effect on the construction industry, the extent being dependent on the time-scale of the programme. For example, it is estimated that an investment of £50 million during each of two years would create jobs for about 4,000 people over the two-year period. As to the longer-term effect, a capital investment of this size would provide 3,500 acute hospital beds, which would employ about 8,000 staff. However, the overall long-term effect of the investment on the numbers of NHS staff employed would depend upon how far the capital was used to create new NHS facilities additional to those already in existence and how far it was used to rationalise, replace or repair existing facalities. Normally there would be considerable redeployment of existing staff; additional staff would of course require additional revenue expenditure. It is estimated that £100 million additional revenue would lead directly to the creation of about 20,000 new jobs in the NHS. There would also be a secondary effect on employment in those industries that equip and supply the NHS although it is not possible to make an estimate of the magnitude of this effect.