asked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether she has powers to earmark funds given to area health authorities for specific purposes.

At present the Department allocates funds to regional health authorities, who are generally responsible for allocating them to area health authorities, in the light of local needs and national priorities. The Resource Allocation Working Party is currently examining the whole question of allocating funds to areas and to districts. We have powers to earmark funds. We are developing a detailed planning system which will then give a far greater capacity hitherto for monitoring expenditure patterns.