Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the Health Foundation's recommendations in its Election Briefing: NHS and Social Care Funding, that (1) the level of NHS spending per person should, as a minimum, be maintained, and (2) health care funding should increase at least in line with the growth of GDP.

National Health Service funding as announced in the 2015 Spending Review will see real terms rises in spend per head of 3.6% over the period 2015-16 to 2020-21 or an average of 0.7% in real terms per annum.

NHS funding is planned to increase by 7.5% over the period 2015-16 to 2020-21 or an average of 1.5% in real terms per annum. The Government recognises that the delivery of a strong economy is of vital importance to enable sufficient funding for the future sustainability of the NHS.