§ Chris GraylingTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the rate of increase of NHS specific costs on an annualised basis. [127621]
§ Mr. HuttonIn order to estimate the rate of increase of national health service costs annually, the Department of Health uses the Hospital and Community Health Services pay and prices inflation. For 2001–02 (the latest year for which data are available), the pay and prices percentage growth over the previous year was 5.1 per cent.