§ Mrs. Dunwoodyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is his most recent estimate of the percentage growth in Health Service spending required to keep pace with demographic change during the current financial year and all future financial years for which figures exist.
§ Mr. Kenneth ClarkeThe OPCS provisional 1981-based projections imply increased demographic demand on the hospital and community health services in the current and next five years as follows:
Year Per cent. 1983–84 0.5 1984–85 0.7 1985–86 1.1 1986–87 1.0 1987–88 1.0 1988–89 0.9 The average increase in demand over the three years from 1984–85 is 0.9 per cent. However, I do not accept the implication of the question that the only way in which the service can keep pace with increasing demand is by increasing spending by exactly the same proportion.