§ Mr. DunnachieTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will increase the funding provided for mental hospitals.
§ Mr. Michael ForsythAllocations to health boards are not earmarked for specific purposes. However, both "Scottish Health Authorities Priorities for the Eighties" (December 1980) and "Scottish Health Authorities Review of Priorities for the Eighties and Nineties" (November 1988) identified care of the elderly with dementia and services for people with a mental handicap or illness as high priority programmes. Monitoring of expenditure on priority programmes began in 1981–82 and since then there has been a real-terms increase of 15 per cent. in the amounts spent by health boards on the three services.