HC Deb 22 May 1980 vol 985 cc318-20W
Mr. Anthony Grant

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is the current annual cost incurred by his Department in informing the public about preventive medicine and the need to avoid action harmful to health; and what is the cost incurred in informing the public on the need for cleanliness and litter control.

Sir George Young

The Health Education Council, which is responsible nationally for informing the public about preventive medicine and the need to avoid action harmful to health, has been allocated £4.5 million by the Department for 1980–81. Relevant work undertaken by the Department, for example on the production of booklets in the prevention and health series published by Her Majesty's Stationery Office, cannot readily be costed. Nor is information available

1978–79 expenditure £ million Percentage of total revenue expenditure on hospital services
Domestic services (domestic and cleaning services) … 265.8 7.37
Ancillary services (portering, transport services, estate management, miscellaneous services and expenses) … 581.7 16.13

Expenditure on home warden services is included in the total for ancillary services but is not separately identifiable in the accounts submitted. A total of 2.4 per cent. of total revenue expenditure in 1978–79 on all domestic services was for services carried out by private contractors. Expenditure on any ancillary services carried out by private contractors is not separately identifiable in the accounts submitted.

Mr. Anthony Grant

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is the current annual loss in National Health Service hospitals of catering services; if he will express these as a percentage of the cost of hospitals as a whole; and what percentage of these services is carried out by private contractors.

Sir George Young

In 1978–79, the latest year for which information is available, the cost of catering services for staff and patients in hospitals net of income received for the sale of meals to staff was £241.6 million in England—7 per cent. of the cost of hospital revenue ser- centrally on expenditure incurred by the NHS, which, together with local authorities, is engaged in local activity in this field. Cleanliness of the environment and litter control are matters for my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for the Environment.