§ Mr. William Hamiltonasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will give an assurance that the financial commitments entered into by Her Majesty's Government on the passing of the Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act, 1970, will be fully honoured.
§ Sir K. JosephI am advised that the Act did not formally impose any financial commitment on the Government. A Financial Resolution was required in respect of Clause 2 but that was not a commitment to increase public expenditure, only an authority to do so. The remaining Clauses either had no financial implications or were already covered by existing spending powers.
Nevertheless, the present Government fully accept the need to improve the services available to the chronically sick and disabled and, as is shown in the White Paper on Public Expenditure (Cmnd. 4578), have made additional resources available over the next four years for the development of these and other health and personal social services. The recent Rate Support Grant Order allowed for appreciable development of these services over the next two years.