§ Mr. Bakerasked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether there is any rule-of-thumb formula relating to the age structure of the population to public expenditure on social services programmes, assuming that the levels of provision remain broadly as at present.
§ Mr. MoyleThere is no formula which links public expenditure provision for the personal social services with age structure. But as indicated in the White Paper "The Government's Expenditure Plans" (Cmnd. 6721) it is the Government's policy to maintain existing standards of service and demographic change is one of the factors taken into account in broad terms.