§ Mr. Barry Jonesasked the Secretary of State for Wales if he will make available extra cash to the Wales area health authorities in order that they might fund the nurses' pay award; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Wyn RobertsNo. The additional costs of the pay award to nurses this year, and to other staff subject to review bodies recommendations over and above the cash 323W increases which we have made available to health authorities is less than £1 million or 0.1 per cent. of their revenue allocations. We have however recently provided them with additional capital funds which can be used for developing revenue saving schemes and which with further improvements in efficiency should help to relieve the pressures on their resources.