§ Mrs. Renée Shortasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what proportion of newly built National Health Service hospitals in the last 10 years were designed by (a)regional architects and (b) private firms.
§ Mr. John PattenInformation in this form is not held centrally by the Department. Records are available for 225W about 350 projects each costing over £1 million designed during this period which indicate that 32 per cent. were designed by regional architects and 68 per cent. by private firms.
§ Mrs. Renée Shortasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many old hospital buildings are scheduled to be remodelled during the next three years; and what level of funding will be allocated for this purpose.
§ Mr. John PattenThe decision to undertake the remodelling of an existing health building is taken by individual health authorities against a background of locally determined policies and priority. Since the projects usually fall below the financial limit which would require prior agreement with the Department, no record of either the numbers of buildings involved or related funding is held centrally.