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Mr. Foulkes
asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will publish a table showing for each of the years 1975–76 to 1979–80, the number of private beds in National Health Service hospitals, by specialisation.
Dr. Vaughan
The information is not available. Authorisations are in terms of number of pay beds per hospital or group of hospitals and not in terms of use of beds by specialty. The total number of pay beds in NHS hospitals (England) in the last five years is as follows:
| No. of pay beds at 31 December | |
| 1975 | 4,150 |
| 1976 | 4,150 |
| 1977 | 3,213 |
| 1978 | 2,666 |
| 1979 | 2,402 |