§ Dr. Roger Thomasasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he will seek to remove indirect taxation from many of the goods and services essential to the maintenance of the National Health Service and if he will estimate the savings to the National Health Service that this would accomplish.
§ Mr. Peter ReesNo. Health authorities pay indirect taxes only where this is appropriate and where it is consistent with the principles on which other organisations in the private and public sectors are taxed. No estimate is available of the total amount of indirect taxation falling on the National Health Service in the course of a year. However, expenditure by health authorities in Great Britain on VAT alone is now estimated to be around £170 million a year. Resources allocated to health authorities include provision to meet the incidence of indirect taxation.