§ Mrs. Renée Shortasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many members of the National Union of Public Employees have been appointed to area health authorities and regional health authorities; and if he will give the numbers for each region.
§ Mr. MoyleAppointments to regional health authorities are made by my right hon. Friend and each RHA includes at least one member appointed on the recommendation of the trade union movement. Only one RHA, Oxford, is known to include a member of the National Union of Public Employees; other members of regional authorities may also belong to this union but such information is not
£ million Year ending March Write-off Debt Subsidies to meet losses Aids for stocking Coking coal subsidy Assisted coal-burn Social grants 1973 … … 449.6 — — — — 15.4 1974 … … — 130.7 3.7 15.0 15.4 96.0 1975 … … — — 1.2 7.1 — 119.9 1976 … … — — — — — 72.4 1977 … … — — 11.1 — — 43.4 1978* … … — — 18.7 — 5.3 51.2 449.6 130.7 34.7 22.1 20.7 398.3 *Latest estimate. The figures do not include grants payable to industry as a whole, such as regional development grants. It is not possible to give exactly comparable figures for other member States of the Community but each year the Commission prepares a detailed report on aids to the coal industry, and the last of these, R/2829/77—covering COM (78) 70 final of 15th November 1977—which examined estimated aids for 1977, was deposited in Parliament at the beginning of December. The report shows the estimated aid to production in other Community coal-producing countries as follows: Belgium, £19.8/tonne; France, £13.3/tonne; and Germany, £2.6/tonne, which compare with £0.5/tonne for the United Kingdom.