§ Mr. Pendryasked the Secretary of State for Wales what has been the total gross expenditure, current and capital, on the National Health Service for each year since 1975; what has been the percentage change deflated by (a) real terms, (b) the retail price index and (c) movements in National Health Service pay and prices.
§ Mr. Nicholas EdwardsThe total gross expenditure on the NHS in Wales is as follows:4W
Year Expenditure (£ million) 1975–76 278.0 1976–77 311.9 1977–78 352.9 1978–79 404.5 1979–80 474.6 1980–81 610.9 1981–82 696.9 1982–83 767.4 1983–84 815.3 1984–85 881.2 The percentage increase during the period 1975–76 to 1984–85 is as follows:—
Percentage *(a) in real terms 24.9 †(b) deflated by the Retail Price Index 26.0 ‡(c) deflated by NHS pay and prices 18.4 Notes:
* Actual expenditure has been adjusted to take account of the effects of general inflation as measured by the GDP deflator.
† As NHS expenditure deflated by the RPI has been specifically requested, the information has been presented in this way. It is, however. not correct to compare movements in expenditure in NHS with movements in the RPI since the goods and services purchased by the NHS differ considerably from those purchased by the average household. The appropriate measure to reflect movements in NHS expenditure with the economy as a whole is the GDP deflator.
‡ The pay and prices index used is that maintained by DHSS for hospital and community health services expenditure. A separate index for pay and price movements in the NHS in Wales is not available.