Mr. Gresham Cookeasked the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs what he estimates would be the approximate annual cost of increasing by 50 per cent. the present scale of grants to local health authorities.
§ Mr. H. BrookeUnder the Local Government Act, 1958, general grants 29W are to be paid from April next in lieu of grants to local health authorities and other grants listed in the First Schedule to the Act. The general grants are not related to the expenditure of the individual local authority; I have presented a report to the House under section 1 (6) of the Act on the basis and proposed amounts of these grants. The Appendix to the report gives the estimated expenditure on local health services in the two years of the first general grant period: the corresponding estimate of expenditure in the current year is £57.83 million and, under the system to be superseded, this expenditure attracts a:50 per cent. grant.