§ Mr. Amessasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what percentage of total hospital expenditure in England and Wales was accounted for by contracted-out services.
§ Mr. Kenneth ClarkeContracted out services accounted for 2.35 per cent. of health authorities total current expenditure in 1983–84. We have defined total current expenditure for this purpose to exclude expenditure on National Health Service Central Services and also payments made to doctors, dentists, opticians, and chemist contractors providing family practitioner services. The information in health authorities accounts does not enable us to give a separate percentage for hospital services within the total, which also includes expenditure on services such as ambulances and community health.