§ Mr. Dobsonasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what effects the recently announced allocation of funds to National Health Service regions is expected to have on the hospital and community medicine services in Greater London.
§ Mr. Kenneth Clarke:We have increased the cash available for running hospital and community health services in England by £500 million for 1985–86; an increase of 5½ per cent. which is a clear 1 per cent. above forecast inflation. Allocations have been made to regional health authorities broadly on the basis of the recommendations of the Resource Allocation Working Party designed to secure a fairer distribution of National Health Service resources. The Thames regions, currently funded at above average levels, will accordingly receive a smaller increase, slightly less than forecast inflation. We do not envisage any reduction of health service activity in London arising from this. All regions have major cost improvement programmes which in the case of London should release sufficient resources to fund some growth and development of priority services.