Mr Major’s Written Parliamentary Answer on the National Health Service – 14 April 1988

Below is the text of Mr Major’s written Parliamentary Answer on the National Health Service on 14th April 1988.

Mrs. Gorman To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is the annual cost incurred by the Treasury in raising and then distributing that proportion of financial resources which is designated by the Government to be spent on the National Health Service.

Mr. Major There are no separate arrangements for collecting revenue to fund particular activities. In 1987–88 total central Government revenues from taxes and national insurance contributions are estimated at around £144 billion. Most of these revenues are collected by Her Majesty’s Customs and Excise and Inland Revenue. The administrative costs of the two Departments were £1.5 billion. Some £20.7 billion was spent on the NHS so, on a pro rata basis, the cost of collecting centrally-funded NHS expenditure was about £215 million. The costs of distributing the funds spent on the NHS cannot be separately identified.