§ Mr. Freudasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will publish in the Official Report details of the distribution of the extra £50 million to be devoted to work in mental and geriatric hospitals as announced in his speech on 13th April; if he will give a breakdown of how that money was spent in Cambridgeshire; and if he is satisfied by the response of the area health authority to his directives.
§ Mr. MoyleThe £50 million was for the United Kingdom; England's share was £41.3 million. £5.35 million was set aside for the central purchase of equipment and the remainder, revalued to 1978–79 forecast outturn prices, was allocated to regional health authorities as follows:
£million Regional Health Authority Capital Revenue Northern 0.53 3.00 Yorkshire 0.54 3.00 Trent 0.64 4.06 East Anglian 0.24 1.55 North-West Thames 0.44 1.21 North-East Thames 0.76 1.39 South-East Thames 0.67 1.51 South-West Thames 0.38 1.63 Wessex 0.33 2.17 Oxford 0.26 1.32 South-Western 0.42 2.64 West Midlands 0.81 4.47 Mersey 0.46 2.11 North-Western 0.77 4.24 My right hon. Friend's envisaged intention was that nationally about one-third of the extra money would be spent on improved staffing levels and urgent maintenance work in mental and geriatric hospitals. His guidance to health authorities recognised, however, that not every area or region would find it appropriate to deploy the extra resources over every item in the list of purposes announced to the House.
The amount received by the Cambridgeshire area health authority was 702W £320,000. Of this, £68,500 is being spent on urgent maintenance work at long stay hospitals, and a further £10,250 is being provided for the appointment of a dietician and extra staff at the geriatric department at Peterborough district hospital. Most of the remainder is being spent on improving the community health services in the area, including additional staff for the mental health services.