asked the Minister of Health what factors determine the percentage of pay beds allocated to the general hospitals now being built.

I decide the number of pay beds for each hospital shortly before it is opened, taking into account all relevant factors, including the needs of non-paying patients and the probable demand for pay beds.

Whether there should be any pay beds in the National Health Service is debatable, certainly on this side, but will my right hon. Friend accept the fact that, while we do not want pay beds, if we are to have any in the new hospital in Hull, there should be a lower percentage of them there than in, say, Cheltenham, Bournemouth or Scarborough, where there are factors other than political factors?

I think that my hon. Friend is aware that I have approved no pay beds in the new Western General Hospital at Hull, because the existing pay beds have not been fully used and in other hospitals there are long waiting lists for non-paying beds. But I shall be making a statement on pay beds as soon as possible.

In order to put the matter in perspective, will the Minister give the figure of the contribution that payers in pay beds have made to the National Health Service? At the same time, will he issue figures to show whether any serious cases have been refused admission because only pay beds were available?

I shall be very happy to provide those figures, but, I am afraid, not without notice. The statistics of occupancy of pay beds certainly suggest that in many areas where the waiting lists for non-paying patients are very long, they are, perhaps, non-existent for paying patients, which has had the effect of delaying the admission to hospital of non-paying patients.