§ 74. Mr. Ioan Evansasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if she is satisfied with the progress of the provision of telephones for the chronically sick and disabled.
§ Mr. Alfred MorrisI would naturally like to see the rate of progress accelerated, while accepting that this presents difficulties for local authorities in current circumstances. As the following figures show, however, the provision of telephones has increased substantially since 1973, the first year for which figures are available:
use the money allocated to it specifically to encourage joint financing would be that the project was in the interests of the NHS as well as the local authority and could be expected to make a better contribution in terms of total care than if applied directly to the NHS. We will shortly circulate draft proposals to NHS and local authority interests for comment, following recent preliminary consultations.