§ Mr. GalbraithTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will give the percentage change in National Health Service expenditure for the years 1987–88, 1988–89 and 1989–90 after correcting for(a) National Health Service pay and prices deflator and (b) demographic deflator; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Michael ForsythForward plans for spending are made on a cash basis and no specific assumptions are made644W about pay and price movements for individual programmes. Estimates are made of the effect of demographic changes on demand for hospital and community health services but these are not appropriate to the National Health Service as a whole.
As my right hon. and learned Friend announced on 9 December, we plan to spend some £2,393 million on the National Health Service in Scotland next year and to provide a further increase of over £100 million in each of the two following years. These figures reinforce the Government's commitment to the National Health Service and should allow for the continued development and improvement of health services in Scotland over the planning period.