To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on funding for the National Health Service for 1990–91.

In 1990–91 gross expenditure on the National Health Service in England is planned to increase to over £23·3 billion. In addition, if health authorities do no more than they have achieved in recent years, they will have a further £150 million from their cost improvement programmes. Taken together, this means that the resources available to the NHS next year will increase by the equivalent of nearly 11 per cent. in cash or about 5·5 per cent. in real terms.