Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much and what proportion of the increase in funding for his Department announced at the Autumn Budget 2024 will be spent on (a) National Insurance contribution increases, (b) pay increases, and (c) overspend by his Department.

We have taken necessary decisions to fix the foundations in the public finances at the Autumn Budget, and this enabled the Spending Review settlement of a £22.6 billion increase in resource spending for the Department, from 2023/24 outturn to 2025/26.

National Insurance contributions will be funded from staffing budgets in the usual way. We have provided written evidence to the Pay Review Bodies setting out our view on what pay increases are affordable, but the eventual spend on pay increases will not be determined until we respond to the Pay Review Body recommendations, which we will do at the earliest opportunity. Finally, the Department is not planning to overspend.