asked the Minister for Health if he will state (a) the amount paid to date on the hospital building programme referred to on page 65 of the first report of the Department of Health; (b) the principal objects of such expenditure; (c) the manner in which the programme has been financed; (d) the amount of proposed expenditure on the hospital building programme in the current financial year; (e) the principal objects of such proposed expenditure, and (f) the manner in which it is proposed this expenditure will be financed.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Hospital Building Programme.
The reply is as follows:—
(a) Grants paid during the period 1st January, 1949, to the 31st March, 1952, from the Hospitals Trust Fund in respect of projects included in the hospital building programme amounted to £7,000,000 approximately. Payments made by local authorities and voluntary hospital authorities during that period in respect of such projects are estimated at £400,000.
(b) The principal objects of such expenditure were the erection, extension and improvement of general hospitals, fever hopitals, mental hospitals, maternity and children's hospitals, tuberculosis institutions, mental defective institutions and clinics.
(c) The hospital building programme has been financed partly by grants from the Hospitals Trust Fund and partly by contributions by local authorities and voluntary hospital authorities.
(d) Grants from the Hospitals Trust Fund during the current financial year in respect of projects included in the hospital building programme are estimated at £4,250,000. Expenditure likely to be incurred during the same period by local authorities and voluntary hospital authorities in respect of such projects is estimated at £400,000.
(e) The principal objects of such expenditure are those set out in reply to (b).
(f) The manner in which it is proposed to finance this expenditure is as described in reply to (c).