asked the Minister for Health if he will state to the last convenient date the total amount expended on the erection of new hospital accommodation for which a grant was given in whole or in part from the Hospitals Fund; and, in respect of such expenditure, the respective amounts provided from (a) the Hospitals Fund, (b) local authorities, (c) the State, and (d) other sources.
Written Answers. - Expenditure on New Hospitals.
Information in the form sought by the Deputy is not readily available. It would involve detailed and prolonged research of departmental records and files extending over the past 24 years to determine the expenditure which was incurred by way of grants and loans on new hospital works as distinct from reconstruction, adaptation and repair schemes, etc. In many instances, moreover, details of the amounts raised by hospital promoters (particularly in the case of voluntary hospitals) from sources other than the Local Loans Fund and the Hospitals Trust Fund are not available in my Department.
I can inform the Deputy, however, that up to the 31st October, 1957, the total grants paid out of the Hospitals Trust Fund for capital purposes amounted to £26,842,165. The grants were made in respect of hospital capital projects including new construction, reconstruction, adaptation, repairs and the provision of furniture and equipment. It is not possible to say how much of that total was paid from sweepstake sources or from the Exchequer. Exchequer Grants-in-Aid of the Hospitals Trust Fund amounting to £6,780,000 were paid into the fund and were utilised to meet all charges falling on the fund as they arose, including capital charges, payments in respect of the revenue deficits of voluntary hospitals and miscellaneous purposes and no portion of the Grants-in-Aid were set aside specifically for capital purposes. The total advances obtained by local authorities from central borrowing sources to meet expenditure on hospital capital projects from 1st August, 1933, following the enactment of the Public Hospitals Act, 1933, up to 31st October, 1957, was £4,557,177. That figure includes expenditure on county homes but it does not cover amounts raised by local authorities from other sources such as banks and insurance companies.