§ Mr. MaxtonTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what proportion of Scottish gross domestic product was spent on the national health service in each of the last 25 years.
§ Mr. Michael ForsythInformation on a consistent basis is readily available only for the financial years 1974–75 to 1989–90 and is set out in the following table:
NHS expenditure as percentage of GDP 1974–75 6.4 1975–76 6.8 1976–77 6.6 1977–78 6.6 1978–79 6.8 1979–80 7.1 1980–81 7.9 1981–82 8.2 1982–83 8.1 1983–84 8.0 1984–85 8.1 1985–86 7.9 1986–87 7.7 1987–88 7.7 1988–89 7.8 1989–90 7.8 Planned gross expenditure on the national health service in Scotland for 1992–93 is £3,725 million. This represents a real terms increase in expenditure on the NHS in Scotland of 44 per cent. since 1979–80.