§ Mr. Gordon BrownTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will express(a) central Government funding and (b) health charges accruing to the National Health Service in 1979 and 1987–88 as a sum per (i) person, (ii) income taxpayer, (iii) household and (iv) average family of four.
§ Mr. Newton[holding answer 29 January 1988]: The information is as follows:
The £30 million waiting list fund will be available for allocation to regions for specific waiting list projects. There is considerable scope for the Health Service to make cost-effective use of external sources of treatment for waiting list patients. For 1988–89 we expect the regional programmes to contain serious and substantial examples of projects making cost-effective use of facilities outside the district, whether they be in the private sector, or armed forces hospitals or in other districts.