§ Mr. Dobsonasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will make a statement on the total final consumption of the National Health Service at 1980 prices on the basis set out in table 9.3 of the 1985 United Kingdom National Accounts.
§ Mr. HayhoeThe table shows the growth which has taken place in National Health Service expenditure in recent years, after taking account of National Health Service pay and price increases. The figures are different from those used, for example, in public expenditure White Papers and in the Government's evidence to the Social Services Committee for its inquiries into public expenditure on the social services as they refer to calendar years and have been prepared using slightly different definitions of expenditure and accounting conventions. They exclude, for example, income from patients' charges, some capital spending and, up to 1 April 1974, expenditure by local authorities on services which were then transferred to the National Health Service.