§ Mr. Robin CookTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will give the figures in his reply of 12 July,Official Report, column 114, as deflated by the health services pay and prices indices or the personal social services index as appropriate in the manner of his replies to the hon. Member for Oldham, West (Mr. Meacher) of 19 January 1987, Official Report, column 395–96, and 14 November 1986, Official Report, column 397–98.
§ Mr. Michael ForsythAs I have already indicated to the hon. Member, most recently in a letter dated 30 March 1988, no separate index has been constructed which relates to the movement of pay and prices within the Health Service in Scotland. The Department of Health maintains indices for pay and price movements in England but the composition of expenditure on hospital and community 693W health services in Scotland—particularly the proportions accounted for by the various categories of staff costs—will differ from England; and on various items, such as rates and electricity, there tend to be marked variations in the changes in costs north and south of the border.