§ Mrs. Renée Shortasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how much in current terms has been spent by his Department in each year from 1972 to 1983; what is the forecast expenditure for the next 10 years; and what proportion of gross national product the historic figures represent in these years.
§ Mr. Geoffrey FinsbergActual or planned expenditure by the DHSS between 1971–72 and 1985–86 is as follows:218W
£ million cash 1971–72 6,616 1972–73 7,528 1973–74 8,478 1974–75 10,893 1975–76 14,676 1976–77 17,138 1977–78 19,726 1978–79 23,358 1979–80 27,966 1980–81 34,369 1981–82 40,587 1982–83 45,645 1983–84 49,968 1984–85 52,380 1985–86 54,970 This includes expenditure on social security throughout Great Britain, and net expenditure on the health and personal social services in England.
There are no forward plans for expenditure beyond the normal public expenditure survey period indicated.
The relationship of these totals to GNP—at market prices—is:
per cent. 1971–72 11.1 1972–73 11.3 1973–74 11.3 1974–75 12.2 1975–76 13.2 1976–77 13.2 1977–78 13.2 1978–79 13.7 1979–80 13.8 1980–81 14.8 1981–82 15.9 However, these should not be interpreted as expressing expenditure on social security and on health and personal social services as a proportion of GNP because GNP is calculated for the United Kingdom as a whole whereas the expenditure totals include a mixture of Great Britain and England figures, and the majority of social security expenditure constitutes transfer payments not included in GNP.