§ Mr. Gordon PrenticeTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will make it her policy to collect centrally information on hospital closures in England.
§ Mr. SackvilleNo, these are for local decision except where statutory objections are raised. In her statement of 21 October 1993,Official Report, columns 398–412, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State announced changes to streamline and simplify central management. This requires that central reports are kept to a minimum.
§ Mr. MilburnTo ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to her answer of 23 March,Official Report, columns 231–32, if she will list the known hospital closures contested by community health councils in each year between 1979 and 1988.
§ Mr. SackvilleRecords of notification of proposed closures were not routinely collected before 1990. The previous reply provided all the information readily available.