§ Mr. John Wellsasked the Minister of Health if he will publish in the OFFICIAL REPORT a table for each of the last 10 years showing the expenditure on hospital building and renovation together with the number of new and modernised beds available in the following areas, namely, England and Wales, South Eastern Hospital area and the Mid-Kent area, and the approximate population of each of these areas.
§ Mr. BarberA table of capital expenditure is below. The population figures for England and Wales, the area of the South East Metropolitan Regional Hospital Board, and the area served for the main acute specialties by the hospitals of the former Mid-Kent group are, about 47.0 million, 3.4 million and 0.1 million respectively. I regret that records of beds are not kept in the form my hon. Friend asks.
Hospital Capital Expenditure Year England and Wales South East Metropolitan Regional Hospital Board Former Mid-Kent Group £m. £m. £'000 1953–54 … 8.8 0.46 3.6 1954–55 … 11.3 0.59 6.9 1955–56 … 11.5 0.55 12.2 1956–57 … 14.2 0.94 19.0 1957–58 … 18.7 1.12 18.3 1958–59 … 21.2 1.08 17.1 1959–60 … 21.0 0.93 18.2 1960–61 … 27.1 1.10 16.5 1961–62 … 34.2 1.22 75.9 1962–63 … 35.7 1.39 135.5