HC Deb 09 February 1988 vol 127 cc177-9
6. Ms. Short

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Services what percentage of gross domestic product the public sector contributes to health in each EEC country.

Mr. Moore

As the answer contains a number of figures I will, with permission, circulate it in the Official Report. The hon. Lady may wish to know, however, that the figures for net public spending on health range from 4.1 per cent. in Greece and Portugal to 6.7 per cent. in France and 6.9 per cent. in Ireland. For the United Kingdom, the equivalent figure for net public spending is 5.2 per cent.

Ms. Short

Does the right hon. Gentleman agree that the figures for public spending and total spending show that Britain spends less as a percentage of GDP than most other developed countries in the world? Does that not give the lie to the Government's pretence that the problem has to do with some sort of insatiable demand for health care? Is not the truth that, for ideological reasons, the Government want to destroy the national health system, which is enormously popular and efficient—in terms of the proportion of money that goes on administration—in order to bring in a private health system? They are running down the system when they could well afford to increase expenditure and get rid of the present problems.

Mr. Moore

If there were any truth in the hon. Lady's absurdities it would apply to the previous Labour Government, who reduced the percentage of GDP dedicated to health from the public sector from 5 to 4.7 per cent. — unlike this Government, who have increased it again, to 5.2 per cent. net.

Mr. Nicholas Winterton

Does my right hon. Friend accept that it is not the percentage of gross national product that we spend on health that is important, but the service that the Health Service gives the people of this country? Does he accept that, despite the problem; that we are encountering at the moment, we in the United Kingdom possess the best National Health Service in the modern world? Will he ensure that in the inquiry being carried out by the Government all alternatives to current funding and all alternatives to make the present system more efficient will be considered, and not held to be out of court?

Mr. Moore

My hon. Friend can be reassured that I will certainly look at the alternatives and that I am concerned to make sure that we do not get trapped into simplicities such as the percentage of GDP. My hon. Friend will know, as others who ask such questions may not, that, for example, the nation with the lowest percentage of GDP spent on health, Greece, also happens to have the highest male life expectancy rate, whereas the nation with the highest percentage of GDP spent on health, Ireland, probably has the lowest male life expectancy rate That is a statistical illustration of the fallacy of GDP extrapolations.

Mr. Madden

Does not the protest campaign announced today by the Royal College of Nursing underline the verdict of every test of public opinion, which is that the vast majority of people want available funds to be spent on improving the NHS and not frittered away on tax cuts for the well off? Does the right hon. Gentleman agree that, instead of a phoney review of the NHS, the Prime Minister would be better employed finding the money urgently to avoid cuts in the Health Service this year?

Mr. Moore

What all this illustrates is the fact that the Opposition are desperate to find ways of spending the Conservative economic success, which has underlain the achievements of this Government. The Government have massively increased funding to the Health Service, as opposed to the reductions under the Labour Government.

Mr. Whitney

Does my right hon. Friend agree that, speaking in round terms, the average of national spending on health in the leading OECD countries is about 9 per cent. compared with about 6 per cent. in this country? The difference is that those countries take into consideration the whole of national spending on health, rather than just Government spending. The message of those figures is that we must look again extremely carefully at how we can find the additional spending on health that the country clearly needs.

Mr. Moore

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. In our main competitor countries an average of about 2 per cent. of funding is provided by the private sector, as opposed to the 0.5 per cent. of private sector funding in this country. It is clear that the overseas private sector makes a far greater contribution to health care, and that is the key distinction illustrated by the national figures.

Following are the figures:

Proportion of GDP spent on public sector health (1985) Per cent.
Belgium 5.5
Denmark 5.2
France 6.7
Germany 6.4
Greece 4.1
Ireland 6.9
Italy 5.4
Netherlands 5.5
Portugal 4.1
Spain 4.3
United Kingdom 5.2

Source: OECD 1987.

Note: Luxembourg is excluded from the table because of reported inconsistencies in the national health accounts.