New Year’s Resolutions

100 reasons why Britain needs to change

CRIME AND JUSTICE

1) The average number of reported crimes per 100,000 people in 1950 was 1,053. In 1960 it was
1,610. In 1970 it was 3,166. In 1980 it was 5,459. By 1990 it was 8,986, and by 2000 it was
10,111. [Home Office, 2007, 'Crime in England and Wales, 2006/07', Home Office Statistical
Bulletin, London: Home Office.]

2) In 2007-8 there were only two convictions for every 100 crimes estimated by the British Crime
Survey. [BCS and recorded crime statistics]

3) Police paper work accounts for approximately 20% of police time. This is a total of 56,000,000
hours a year. [Diary of a Police Officer, Home Office Research Paper 149, PA Consulting, 2001.]

4) An extra £6.4 billion has been spent on policing since 2001/02; but total crime rates have
remained static. [Home Office, 2007, ‘Crime in England and Wales, 2006/07’, Home Office
Statistical Bulletin, London: Home Office, p.19. In 2001/02 crime rates per 100,000 people were
10,440 and have averaged 10,555 in the six subsequent years.]
5) On average there are 70 recorded assaults on police officers every day. [Grant Shapps, “Police
on the beat”, citing Parliamentary Written Answers]

6) Many jails have more prisoners than their target limit, but meet a level considered safe.
According to this definition, the prison system has been overcrowded every year since 1994.
Prisons are so overcrowded that from 2007, some prisoners have been held in police custody
suites. [Home Office, Digest 4: Information on the Criminal Justice System in England and Wales,
1999, London: Home Office]

7) 48% of prisoners are at or below the reading level expected for an eleven year old. 65% are
below the level in numeracy and 82% in writing. [Social Exclusion Unit, 2002, Reducing Re-
offending by ex-prisoners, London: Social Exclusion Unit]

8) The most likely person to be carrying a knife is a boy aged between 14 and 19. [Philips, A. and
Chamberlain, V. MORI Youth Survey 2006, London; Youth Justice Board for England and Wales,
2006; and OCJS]

9) Drug and alcohol abuse costs society around £39 billion per year.
[www.drugscope.org.uk/newsandevents/currentnewspages/BBC-efficacy_drug_ttmt.htm]

10) One in nine people released from prison with an electronic tag (the “home detention curfew”)
reoffend while tagged. [Parliamentary Written Answer, 16 April 2007]

11) 65% of those released from prison have been reconvicted within two years. The real rate of
reoffending which goes unrecorded is far higher. [Re-Offending by Adults: Results from the 2004
cohort, Home Office, 2007/8 Performance, The MoJ has recently decided to change their time-
frame for re-offending from two years to one, this will significantly reduce the ‘official rate of re-
offending’.]

12) The estimated cost of re-offending is £13 billion a year. [Offender Case Management Caseload
statistics 2006, Ministry of Justice, December 2007]

13) When compared to non-offenders, offenders are thirteen times as likely to have been in care as
a child, thirteen times as likely to be unemployed, and two and a half times as likely to have had
a family member convicted of a criminal offence. [Working with Employers to Reduce Re-
Offending, National Offender Management Service, May 2007]

14) 35% of people do not feel safe outside after dark. Among people living in local authority flats the
figure rises to over 50%. 18% of people in local authority flats don’t even feel safe in their own
home. [English House Condition Survey, as reported in the Hills Report 2007, p.96]
ECONOMICS

(a) Employment, unemployment and welfare

15) Official unemployment is projected to rise to over 8% by the end of 2009. Bank of England
economist David Blanchflower has said that he expects unemployment to rise to over three
million. [OECD Economic Outlook 2008, vol 2008, no 2, OECD and Royal Economic Society
January 2009 newsletter]

16) The total number of people on Jobseeker’s Allowance and Incapacity Benefit is currently 3.6
million. 1.6 million people have been on incapacity benefit for more than five years. [Office for
National Statistics and the Department for Work and Pensions Caseload Statistics May 2008]

17) In 1997 Tony Blair said that “By the end of a 5-year term of a Labour Government, I vow that we
will have reduced the proportion we spend on the welfare bills of social failure . . . This is my
covenant with the British people. Judge me upon it. The buck stops with me.” Since 1997/1998,
the government spent £1.23 trillion on social security benefits. In 1997/8, the Government
spent £93.5bn on these, compared to £138.5bn in 2007/8 (Treasury estimate). In 2007/8, that’s
£13,600 per individual under the poverty line. [HM Treasury, Office for National Statistics]

18) 60% of all worklessness is in 10% of all wards. [Committee of Public Accounts (2008) Helping
People from Workless Households into work, pp 7]

19) The UK has a higher proportion of its children living in workless households than any other EU
country. [Share of Persons aged 0-17 who are living in households where no-one works, Eurostat,
2007]

20) A claimant of Incapacity Benefit is three times more likely to consider herself as permanently
unable to work six months after her the first claim than when she first started it. [Kemp PA,
Davidson J, Routes onto Incapacity Benefit: Findings from a follow-up Survey of Recent
Claimants, Research Report no 516, Department for Work and Pensions, 2008]

21) 43% of Incapacity Benefit claimants who have been out of work for one year think that they will
have a job in six months’ time. They only have, however, a 2.8% chance of attaining their goal in
the next 18 months. [Kemp PA, Davidson J, Routes onto Incapacity Benefit: Findings from a
follow-up Survey of Recent Claimants, Research Report no 516, Department for Work and
Pensions, 2008; Bewley H, Dorsett R, Ratto M, Evidence on the Effect of Pathways to Work on
Existing Claimants, Research Report no 488, Department for Work and Pensions, 2008]

22) 89% of recent Incapacity Benefit claimants who do not consider themselves to be permanently
off work due to sickness or disability agree with the statement that “Having a job is very
important to me.” However, 36% agree with the statement that “I should not be expected to
take a new job with less interesting responsibilities or tasks than my previous job.” [Kemp PA,
Davidson J, Routes onto Incapacity Benefit: Findings from a follow-up Survey of Recent
Claimants, Research Report no 516, Department for Work and Pensions, 2008]

23) 49% of people claiming Incapacity Benefit for one year claimed Income Support or Jobseeker’s
Allowance in the two years prior to the start of receiving their new benefit. [Kemp PA, Davidson
 J, Routes onto Incapacity Benefit: Findings from a follow-up Survey of Recent Claimants,
Research Report no 516, Department for Work and Pensions, 2008]

24) There are now 783,000 16-24 year old NEETs (young people not in employment, education, or
training) – a rise of 22 per cent among 16-18 year-olds, and 16 per cent amongst 19-24 year-olds
since 1997. [Hansard, 9 June 2008, Col. 39WA]

25) Of all post-16 jobs created between 1997 and 2007, 82% went to (or were created by)
immigrants. [Statistics Commission, December 2008]

(b) Public spending

26) Public spending in the UK is heading above the European average for the first time in a
generation. Public spending in the UK has risen from 39.1% of GDP in the period 1997-2001 to
45.8% today. The European Commission forecasts that it will rise to 48.2% in 2010. [European
Economy, November 2008, Page 158]

27) A CEBR analysis of official figures has shown 10 areas where more than 40% of the workforce is
employed in the public sector. Topping the league is Castle Morpeth, Northumberland, where
the state provides 57% of jobs. [CEBR quoted in the Sunday Times, 30 November 2008]

(c) Debt

28) In 1997 UK personal debt was 61% and UK government debt was 43% of GDP. This meant total
debt per person of £14,200. By analogy, the ‘notional payback date’ for personal debt was 23rd
August. In 2008: UK personal debt is 104% of GDP and UK government debt is 43.5% of GDP.
This is a total debt per person of £35,700. This rises to £67,400 per person if bank debts (59% of
GDP) and the current public sector pensions liability (estimated to be 76% of GDP, or £1.071trn)
are included. The notional payback date for personal debt is 14th January of the next year.
[Sources: Credit Action (personal debt); notional payback analogy from Grant Thornton;
 (pensions liability) Record N, Sir Humphrey’s Legacy: An Update, Institute of Economic Affairs,
2008]

29) In 2003, Britain’s ‘total external debt’ - what Britain owes the rest of the world - was 270% of
GDP, equivalent to £50,300 per person. It is now 410% of GDP, equivalent to £96,000 per
person. We have external debts of $11.4 trillion, compared to $5.5 and $5.7 billion for France
and Germany. In fact the UK’s debts are not much smaller than those of the US, ($13.7 trillion)
despite America’s vastly bigger economy. [World Bank, Net External Debt]

30) The UK is now regarded as more risky borrower than some large companies, and far less solvent
than Germany, France or the US. It costs about 42,000 euros to insure 10 million euros of
German government bonds against default. It costs about 59,000 euros to do the same for
French Government debt, or 65,000 dollars to do the same thing for 10 million dollars of US
debt. But it costs 125,000 pounds to insure 10 million pounds worth of UK debt. [CMA
Datavision, December 2008]

31) The Treasury forecasts by 2015/16 UK national debt will rise to 57% of GDP – that’s £2438 extra
for every person in the UK. [HM Treasury, Pre-Budget Report: Facing Global Challenges:
Supporting People through Difficult Times, The Stationery Office, November 2008]

32) At the end of 2007, there were 145 million debit, credit or charge cards in circulation in the UK.
The average adult owns 4 cards (credit and debit). [APACS]

33) The average interest rate on credit card lending is currently 17.6%. [Defaqto]

SOCIAL POLICY

34) Over the course of last year more than 3,000 individuals slept rough in London, a seven percent
increase since 2005/6. [Broadway, “Street to Home Annual Report” 2007/8 citing stats from the
CHAIN database]

35) About 459 people sleep outside around England on any one night, 221 of whom are in Greater
London. [Crisis factsheet, citing ODPM, July 2005]

36) The Government recommends a safe drinking level of 3-4 units a day for men and 2-3 for
women. But just one can of the kind of super strength lager typically drunk by the street
homeless is four and a half units. [Street Rescue , “Dying for a drink” 2006]

37) About four million people are now waiting for a council or housing association home, and the
Local Government Association expects this to reach five million by 2010. [LGA, May 2008]

38) If you have experienced family breakdown, you are 75% more likely to fail at school, 70% more
likely to be a drug addict and 50% more likely to have alcohol problems. [Breakdown Britain,
Centre for Social Justice, July 2007]

39) The Family Matters Institute estimates that the direct annual costs of family breakdown are
around £15 billion, and rising. They estimate that with indirect costs, the total is double that.
 The direct costs of family breakdown cost each of the UK's 26.2 million tax payers an average of
£11 per week. [The Family Matters Institute, “the cost of family breakdown”, 2007]

40) Nearly one in two cohabiting parents split up before their child’s 5th birthday, compared to one
in twelve married parents. [Breakdown Britain, Centre for Social Justice, July 2007]

41) For a married couple with one earner and children, the marginal effective tax rate can be 90%,
the 3rd highest in any OECD country. [OECD tax Benefits model, Chart 3.A.1.2]

42) The UK has the highest teenage pregnancy rate in Europe. Up to 42 in every 1,000 girls under 18
became pregnant in the 12 months to September 2007 compared to 40.9 in 2006. The UK’s
teen pregnancy rate is three times higher than in France, and roughly five times higher than
Sweden Italy or the Netherlands. [National Statistics, December 2008 and UNICEF-IRC League
Table of Teenage Births 2001]

43) Less than 4% of owner-occupiers and 7% of private renters say that their area has a serious
drugs problem, but more than 22% of social tenants in estates with blocks of flats report this as
a salient issue. [Hills J, The Future Roles of Social Housing in England, Chartered Institute of
Housing, 2007, fig 9.7b, p95]

EDUCATION

44) Over 40% of the boys and almost 30% of the girls (around 200,000 children in total) who left
primary school in 2008 cannot read and write to minimum standards. [DCSF: National
Curriculum Assessments at Key Stage 2 in England, 2008 (Provisional)]

45) In 2007-8 180,000 14 year olds about to start their GCSEs failed to achieve minimum standards
in either reading or writing in their SATS. [DCSF: National Curriculum Assessments at Key Stage 3
in England, 2008 (Provisional)]

46) In 2006-7 in the richest 10% of neighbourhoods, 57.4% of pupils gained five or more GCSEs at
grades A* to C including Maths and English. In the poorest 10% of neighbourhoods only 33.3%
did. This figure falls to 16% for those eligible for free school meals. [DCSF Statistical first release
9 January 2008 and The Times Higher April 2008]

47) Children on free school meals are ten times less likely than average to get three ‘A’s at A-level.
14.3% of pupils at secondary school are eligible for FSM, but only 1.4% of those achieving three
‘A’s were on FSM. [Written Answer, 26 November 2008]

48) In 2006-7, 15% of eligible pupils did not achieve 5 GCSE’s at any grade. [Written Answer, 8 May
2008]

49) On arriving at school approximately 50% of children and young people in some socio-
economically disadvantaged populations have speech and language skills that are significantly
lower than those of other children of the same age. [Bercow Review, p.13 -]
 50) Of the 638 “National Challenge” secondary schools indentified as “failing” by the government,
85% have above average numbers of pupils on Free School Meals. [BBC News – 10th June 2008]

51) Undergraduates consider social work to be the profession most similar to teaching. [YouGov Poll
– 9th-14th April 2008, quoted in the Policy Exchange report “More Good Teachers”]

52) Because of the shortage of Maths teachers, in 2005-6, more than one in six (17%) trainee Maths
teachers had achieved only a third or pass in their first degree. [TDA performance profile 2007]

53) 200 new schools were supposed to have been completed under the £45 billion Building Schools
for the Future programme by the end of 2008 – but just 37 have been. [Written Answer, 6
October 2008]

54) 57% of parents would send their children to an independent school if they could afford it. [MORI
research for the Independent Schools Council]

55) In some relatively poor London boroughs large numbers of pupils are sent outside the state
system because parents are unhappy with the quality of states schools. 19% of pupils in
Hackney and 25% in Camden are educated outside the state sector. [DCSF, Statistical First
Release 27 November 2007]

56) From 1996 to 2007, the average grade achieved by GCSE candidates of the same ability rose by
almost two-thirds of a grade. [Coe R & Tymms P, “An academic view: summary of research on
changes in educational standards in the UK”, Education Briefing Book, Institute of Directors,
London 2008, p.97]

57) There are 9,289 different courses listed on Ofqual’s National Database for Accredited
Qualifications. 194 of them are in Hospitality and Catering. [National Database for Accredited
Qualifications]

58) Lack of interest in the “Train-to-Gain” adult skills programme led to an underspend of £130
million in 2007-8 (on a £461 million budget). Nevertheless the budget is due to increase to £657
million in 2008-9 and £1.02 billion by 2010-11. [DCSF Annual Report 2007, p. 107; DIUS Annual
Report 2008, p. 113]

UNIVERSITIES

59) After more than a decade of intense effort by universities, it remains the case that you are much
more likely to get a degree if you are middle class. Only 10 per cent of those from the poorest
fifth of families have acquired a degree by the age of 23, compared with 44 per cent from the
richest fifth. [Findings of National Council for Educational Excellence reported in Times Higher,
April 24 2008]

60) For men the participation rate is actually going downwards. It is currently 10 percentage points
below that for women. Since 1992, women have been in the majority at university. Last year,
the proportion of young men studying for a degree fell from 37% in 1999 to 35%, while the
 figure rose from 41% in 1999 to 45% for women. [National Audit Office report, Widening
Participation in Higher Education, June 2008]

61) Every year 60,000 students who were in the top fifth of their class across all English state
schools at age 11, 14 or 16 fail to reach university. [Institute of Education research, reported in
The Guardian, June 2008]

62) Almost one in ten young, full-time, first degree students from low-participation neighbourhoods
starting in 2004-05 dropped out of their higher education course after the first year. This means
that in total around 28,000 full-time and 87,000 part-time undergraduates who commenced
their studies in 2004-05 were no longer in higher education in 2005-06. [Higher Education
Statistics Agency, performance indicator table T3b, 2004-05.]

63) Part-time students now make up 40 per cent of the student population. They are the most likely
to drop out. In 2004-05 almost one quarter (23%) of part-time students left university after their
first year. [National Audit Office Report July 2007, “Staying the course: the retention of students
in higher education”]

64) As many as 12,000 students entering higher education in 2006-07 on full state support did not
apply for a bursary although many were likely to have met the necessary criteria, because the
system was too complicated to understand. [National Audit Office report, “Widening
Participation in Higher Education” June 2008]

65) A decade ago only 48% of students were awarded firsts or 2.1s, now 60% achieve them. [Higher
Education Statistics Agency, first statistical release January 2008]

ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENT

66) Since the signing of the Kyoto Agreement in 1997, official UK Greenhouse gas emissions have
risen - from 570.6 MtCO2 in 1997 to 591.2 MtCO2 in 2005. [Defra, Environment Statistics, 2008]

67) On a consumption basis (instead of a production basis, which is reduced by industry shifting to
developing countries) UK emissions have risen 19% between 1990 and 2003 - to approximately
1100 MtCO2. [ Helm D, Smale R and Phillips J, “Too Good to be True? The UK’s Climate Change
Record”, 2007]

68) Global emissions rose by 25% between 1990 and 2004. [Green Alliance, The New Politics of
Climate Change, 2008]

69) 52 (high level) environmental targets (38% of them) set since 1997 will not be met or are
unlikely to be. There have been at least 7 major energy policy realignments since 1997, yet a
target of 10% of electricity from renewables by 2010 is unlikely to be met. [Policy Exchange -
Green Dreams – a decade of missed targets, p.3 & p.8]

70) Every year about 12 million hectares of tropical forests are logged, cleared or burnt. Destruction
of forests and peatlands generates more than the entire greenhouse gas emissions from the
global transport sector or a similar amount to that emitted by the United States or China. [Policy
Exchange - The Root of the Matter, p.4, 13]
 71) The cost of saving one tonne of CO2 from the UK’s Renewable Transport Fuels Obligation is $133
- $292 / tonne CO2, this compares with $3 - $30 / tonne CO2 by preventing deforestation. [Policy
Exchange - The Root of the Matter, p.4, 13]

72) Russia supplies the EU with 40% of its gas imports, and 30% of its oil. The UK imports 47% of its
coal from Russia – amounting to 22.7m tonnes. [The Times, November 13th 2008, p.39 and BERR
DUKES database Association of UK Coal Importers]

73) Because of the shutdown of old power stations and increasing demand, by 2015 the gap
between electricity production and projected consumption will be 7 - 16 GW – equivalent to
around 10% of total UK demand. [UK Energy Research Centre, 9th November 2005]

COMMUNITY COHESION AND SECURITY

74) 23% of British Muslims said they would be angry if a close member of their family joined the
British Army. 56% of British Muslims agreed that the ‘war on terror’ was a ‘war on Islam’ And 7
per cent of British Muslims said that suicide attacks against British civilians were justified in
certain circumstances. [Populus Poll for ITV , July 2006]

75) 40 per cent of British Muslims said they would support the introduction of some elements of
sharia law within Muslim majority areas of the UK. [ICM Poll, February 2006, Daily Telegraph]

76) Muslims in Britain suffer from high rates of economic exclusion. 69 per cent of Muslim women
and 30 per cent of Muslim men in Britain are economically inactive, compared to a national
average of 27 per cent of all women and 17 per cent of all men. [ONS, Annual Population Survey,
2004 (the latest year for which figures broken down by religion are available)]

77) 42 per cent of Pakistani and Bangladeshi women under 35 who had a partner but no children
are economically inactive. This compares to 18 per cent of Indian women, 9 per cent of Black
African women, 4 per cent of white women and 2 per cent of black Caribbean women. [Labour
Market Trends, April 2004]

78) Whereas in the general working age population, 44 per cent of women have qualifications at A-
level or higher only 27 percent of Muslim women do 55 per cent of all men and 32 per cent of
Muslim men are similarly qualified. If Muslims had the same age profile as the rest of the
population, 33 per cent of men and 28 per cent of women would have A-levels or higher. [2001
Census and Annual Population Survey, ONS 2004]

79) Since 1997, the Government has cut its target for the trained strength of the Army by 7,000; its
target for the Navy by 7,000; and its target for the RAF by 16,000. [House of Commons Defence
Committee, Minutes of Evidence, 1 November 2000, Session 2000-1, HC29-II, Q. 301; Hansard, 8
February 2002, Col. 1202WA; Ministry of Defence, Defence Plan 2008-12, June 2008, Session
2007-8, Cm 7385, p.39]

80) Since 1997, around a fifth of the Royal Navy and Royal Fleet Auxiliary’s total fleet has been cut,
and frigate and destroyer numbers have fallen from 35 to 25. The Royal Navy has also stopped
 drug-busting in the Caribbean for nine months of the year because of cuts. [Defence Analytical
Services and Advice, UK Defence Statistics 2008, table 4.1]

81) The RAF has 166 fewer fixed-wing aircraft in 2008 than in 1997. [Hansard, 9 October 2007, Col.
509WA; Hansard, 12 May 2008, Col. 1308WA]

82) There are major shortfalls in aircraft and helicopters. For example, only 32 per cent of the
Army’s Lynx fleet and 48 per cent of the RAF’s Chinook fleet are currently fit for operations.
[Hansard, 21 May 2008, Col. 309WA). Only half of the RAF’s Hercules C-130 fleet is fit for
operations (Hansard, 20 May 2008, Col. 180WA]

83) 10.3 per cent of Army personnel are exceeding the guideline of no more than 415 days spent
away from families over a 30-month period. [Ministry of Defence, Annual Reports and Accounts
2007-8 Vol.1: Annual Performance Report, 21 July 2008, Session 2007-8, HC850-I, para 308]

84) As a result of overstretch, more experienced personnel are leaving. Resignation rates for officers
have increased in each of the past five years. [Defence Analytical Services and Advice, TSP5]

85) In a report in 2007, the Chief of the General Staff (Head of the Army) General Sir Richard
Dannatt stated that, ‘more and more single income soldiers are now close to the UK Govt
definition of poverty’. [Chief of the General Staff’s Briefing Team Report 2, 2007, p.3]

86) In a recent survey, 46 per cent of those serving in the Royal Navy and 42 per cent of those in the
Army felt that they were not valued by the Services. 64 per cent of sailors and 59 per cent of
soldiers said that morale was either low or very low across the Service. [Ministry of Defence,
Armed Forces Continuous Attitude Survey 2007, July 2008, tables 21 and 15]

87) The top 19 major procurement projects are £2.5 billion over budget or 11 per cent over their
initially approved costs. [National Audit Office, Major Projects Report 2007, 30 November 2007,
Session 2007-8, HC 98-I, para 1.4]

88) Altogether, the top 19 major projects are now predicted to come into service 441 months later
than expected. [National Audit Office, Major Projects Report 2007, 30 November 2007, para
1.10]

HEALTH

89) Data from the Office for National Statistics shows a fall in NHS productivity of 2% a year from
2001 to 2005 across the UK. [National Statistics News Release, 28 January 2008.
http://www.statistics.gov.uk/pdfdir/health0108.pdf]

90) Continuing the long-term trend in NHS spending would suggest that by 2068 spending will be in
the region of 16% to 18% of GDP – double today’s £90 billion and similar to current US levels of
spending. [Professor John Appleby, Chief Economist, King’s Fund writing in Public Finance, 4 July
2008]
91) 29.5% of children in England are overweight or obese. [NHS Information Centre, Health Survey
for England 2006, Latest Trends, January 2008.]

92) In 2006-07, a total of 45,085 people were admitted to hospital with acute alcohol intoxication.
[NHS Information Centre, Statistics on Alcohol: England, 2008]

93) One in seven fifteen year olds in Britain is a regular smoker. [Action on Smoking and Health,
Beyond Smoking Kills, October 2008, P3]

94) Up to a third of those infected with HIV in the UK - approximately 21,600 people - are unaware
of their infection. [Health Protection Agency, Testing Times - HIV and other Sexually Transmitted
Infections in the United Kingdom: November 2007]

95) The number of death certificates in England and Wales that mentioned C. difficile infection rose
from 6,480 in 2006 to 8,324 in 2007, an increase of 28 per cent. [Office for National Statistics
news release, 28 August 2008 ]

96) In the next 20 years, the number of people over 85 in England will double and the number over
100 will quadruple. According to SAGA the cost of a four-year stay in a care home will rise from
£112,312 to £223,476 by 2028. [Government Actuaries Department Projections database, 23
October 2007]

97) In 2004 in Great Britain, the proportion of children aged 5 to 16 with a mental disorder was
more than twice as high among those living in areas categorised as ‘hard pressed’ than those in
areas populated by ‘wealthy achievers’. [Office for National Statistics, Social Trends 2008]

98) A recent study for the Citizens Advice Bureau found that 7.4 million people have not been to an
NHS dentist since April 2006 because the difficulty in finding one. [CAB, 16 January 2008]

99) The NHS could save more than £200 million a year, without affecting patient care, by GPs
prescribing lower cost but equally effective medicines. [Health Select Committee Report:
Prescribing Costs in Primary Care. Dec 2007]

100) Of the £43 billion increase in investment in the five years after 2002, pay and price inflation
absorbed 43 per cent (£18.9 billion). [Wanless, D., Appleby, J., Harrison, A. and Patel, D. (2007)
“Our future health secured? A review of NHS funding and performance” London: The King’s
Fund]