29.
asked the Minister of Health which of the new town corporations have sought approval for the establishment of health centres.
Responsibility for providing health centres under the National Health Service Acts rests with local health authorities. My Department has been approached regarding health centres in the new towns at Aycliffe, Peterlee and Basildon and understands that sites have been reserved at Hatfield, Hemel Hempstead and Welwyn.
Does the right hon. Gentleman agree that the new towns present peculiarly favourable opportunities for experimenting in health centres and, moreover, that it is urgent to get on with health centres there lest private practice be so built up that at a later date it is difficult to introduce them?
I agree that the new towns and some of the very large housing estates offer the best field for experiment in this direction. We have that very much in mind and we look at the applications as they come in.