§ 18. Mr. Norman Atkinsonasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is his estimate of the absolute minimum annual expenditure needed to prevent the Service for which he is responsible from falling to an unacceptable level.
§ Mr. Patrick JenkinAs the Royal Commission on the NHS pointed out, there is no objective way of establishing what the "right" level of expenditure on the NHS should be. The same is true of a "minimum" level. Today, we are spending about 11 per cent. more on the NHS in real terms than our predecessors presumably considered acceptable in 1974–75. But we can only spend what we can afford to spend.