To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will estimate the net cost or saving to public funds if central government contributions to local government expenditure and the financing of the health service and of policing were allocated by applying throughout the United Kingdom the same needs-based formulae as are currently used to allocate public spending in England in those fields. (129812)

Under the devolved funding arrangements set out in the Statement of Funding Policy published in July 2004 it is for the devolved administrations to determine how much is spent on the health service and local government expenditure, and similarly for policing in Scotland, within their overall block budgets.

We do not have the data to attempt to apply spending formulae for England to local authorities and health trusts in other countries in the UK.