§ Mr. Pattieasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will list the proportion of gross national product spent on (a) public health expenditure and (b) total public and private health expenditure in the EEC countries, the United States of America, Canada and Japan, at the latest available date, and at the latest available common date.
§ Mr. Moyle:Expenditure on health care is not recorded on a strictly comparable 900W the last three years to the North-West Thames regional health authority for the development of regional secure units for the mentally ill and the mentally handicapped; how much of this money has been spent; how much it is planned to spend in the current financial year; and how many such units, of what size, have been (a) completed and (b) are under completion, by location.
§ Mr. Moyle:The following is the information:
basis in the national accounts of all countries, and definitions of health care may vary considerably. There are, therefore, serious difficulties in expressing such expenditure as a proportion of national income in order to allow meaningful comparisons between countries. The best figures currently available are those produced recently by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development showing the percentages of "trend" gross domestic product—that is gross domestic product adjusted to avoid the influence of business fluctuations—at current market prices spent on health provision in several countries in 1974—or near date. The percentages are for current expenditure only. The proportions of trend gross domestic product spent on (a) public health expenditure and (b) total public and private health expenditure in the EEC countries, the United States, Canada and Japan are as follows:
Country Public health expenditure Total public and private health expenditure Belgium 4.2 5.0 Canada (1973) 5.1 6.8 Denmark 6.5 na France 5.3 6.9 Germany 5.2 6.7 Ireland (1975) 5.4 6.2 Italy 5.2 6.0 Japan (1975) 3.5 4.0 Luxembourg na 4.0 Netherlands (1972) 5.1 7.3 United Kingdom(1975) 4.6 5.2 United States 3.0 7.4