To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, pursuant to his answer of 18 May, whether the £27·41 million for nurses' pay is to be paid out of the existing Welsh Office budget.

The resources to be provided to district health authorities to meet the estimated additional costs of the nurses' pay award this year will come from non-recurrent funds made available to the Department from the contingency fund. Provision for future years will be determined in the course of drawing up spending plans for 1989–90 and subsequent years.