§ Mr. Maurice Macmillanasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will list in the Official Report the amount spent per capita on health care in each of the OECD countries, and the approximate breakdown between public and personal expenditure in these figures.
§ Mr. MoyleExpenditure on health care is not recorded on a strictly comparable basis in the national accounts of the countries concerned and definitions of health care vary considerably. The best figures currently available are those produced by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and the information below is based on these figures, using the appropriate population figures and converted to £ sterling according to the average exchange rates for the year in question. As relative exchange rates may fluctuate considerably from year to year, the results given are to some degree sensitive to the base date on which the conversion to £ sterling is calculated. All the figures refer to current expenditure only taking account of payments through social security schemes.
Of resources to that authority reaches the national average per head of population.
§ Mr. MoyleThe rate of redistribution between regional health authorities in England of resources for hospital and community health services is affected by the level of resources available nationally 405W year by year. In our pursuit of equity, we must have regard not only to population but to a range of factors affecting relative need included in the formula worked out by the resource allocation working party and others, at present outside the formula, which the working party identified as relevant. With these factors in mind, I judge that the progress made in the past three years put us on course for the achievement of equity between regions in the mid-1980s.