What does the politician say the government will do in the following areas? A increase expenditure B maintain the same level of

W: Can you tell us, minister, what your government plans to do if they are returned to office after the next election? Particularly in the areas of health, research and education.
M: We certainly plan to raise the level of funding for public hospitals, including providing funds to create more hospital beds.
W: So that means building more hospitals?
M: Yes. That is definitely on our agenda.
W: And would your health package include an increase to the subsidy on prescription drugs? Many essential medicines are terribly expensive and some people can’t afford them at all.
M: We already have a very high level of subsidy for prescription medicines, and negotiations are currently taking place with the major drug companies to try to get them to improve efficiency and lower their prices. We see this as a more useful approach, which should result in less government money being spent on this.
W: Oh. OK. Education is another very important area. Do you anticipate allocating more money to build schools, in particular primary schools, some of which are now very old?
M: Yes, we do of course see education as important, but we feel that the current level of funding is appropriate and we hope that by closing some schools in areas where the population has dropped, that we’ll be able to find the money to subsidise schools that are in need.
W: And what about R&D, research and development? Compared to many other countries, the amount of money provided for scientific research in this country is extremely low. So much so that many of our best scientists are forced to go overseas.
M: This is an area of serious concern, and we are planning to allocate over 3 billion dollars in university research grants over the next five years. We accept that this is an area that has been under-funded.
W: Finally, minister, let’s look at our road transport system. The current trend seems to be for the government to seek private funding for the construction of major roads... which the drivers then pay to use. Do you see this as fair?
M: Basically, it makes sense. If a road or tunnel is built by a private company, then that company must be entitled to charge motorists to use it. This allows us to have a safe, modern road system at no additional cost to the state, which in turn means that we, as a government, don’t have to set any additional funds aside for public work of this nature.
W: I think there are many drivers who would disagree with you there, minister, but we’ll have to leave it there for this evening. I’m afraid. Thank you for coming into the studio.
M: Thank you.