§ Mr. Moateasked the Secretary of State for Social Services when he expects the funding of the Medway health authority to reach 100 per cent. of its resource allocation working party target.
§ Mr. Kenneth ClarkeThe South-East Thames regional health authority's long-term policy is to provide equality of access to health care for all its districts. The pace at which this can be achieved depends on the extent to which national economic recovery can produce growth for the National Health Service and on the rate at which resources can be released from over-target districts and new services developed in under-target districts. The RAWP targets are a useful guide for distributing growth money as part of this gradual process, but they are only a means of comparing the levels of access to health care in different districts and are not a precise measure of a level of spending necessary to maintain existing levels of service. In 1983–84 Medway will receive an additional £1.4 million representing real growth of 4.5 per cent. in its revenues.