HC Deb 02 April 1979 vol 965 cc469-71W
Mr. Younger

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland if, pursuant to his answer of 20 July 1978, Official Report, column 409, he will give the total number of beds available in hospitals for the latest available year.

Mr. Harry Ewing

The latest available information relates to the six months up to 31 March 1978. During that period the average number of available staffed beds in National Health Service hospitals in Scotland was 59,061.

Mr. Younger

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland if, pursuant to his answer of 20 July 1978, Official Report, column 409, he will give the latest figures for income from pay beds in National Health Service hospitals in Scotland.

Mr. Harry Ewing

For the financial year 1977–78, the latest year for which statistics are available, the income was £482,886.

Mr. Younger

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland if, pursuant to his answer of 30 November 1977, Official Report, column 243, he will publish the latest figures for average waiting time for the admission of non-urgent cases to hospitals in Scotland as a whole for 1974 and for each year since then.

Mr. Harry Ewing

The following table shows mean waiting times in days of patients discharged during the years 1974 to 1977, with selected diagnoses. The figures refer only to patients discharged during the years listed and not to all patients on the waiting list in those years.

answer of 6 June 1978, Official Report, c. 6, he will give the percentage of secondary schoolchildren being educated in education authority, independent and grant-aided schools, respectively, at the most recent date for which figures are available.

Mr. McElhone

Provisional figures for September 1978 show that 95.1 per cent. of secondary school pupils were in education authority schools, 2.1 per cent. in independent schools and 2.8 per cent. in grant-aided schools.