asked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) if he will give the occupancy rate for beds in each specialty in each hospital in the Cheshire health area over the last 12 months as compared with the previous 12 months;(2) if he will list the length of waiting list for each specialty in each hospital in the Cheshire health area at the most convenient date, together with the national averages, as compared with one, two and five years ago.

The latest local information on waiting lists and bed occupancy rates available to the Department relates to 31 December 1978 and I shall be sending a copy of the Cheshire returns for that year and for 1977 and 1975 to my hon. Friend, who may wish to contact Cheshire area health authority directly if he needs more up-to-date information. I shall also be supplying data on the national waiting list picture.