UK Government spending in health & other areas: 2001-11

This chart shows UK Government spending shares dedicated to health, welfare, education, and defence between 2001 and 2011.

Although the NHS is not immune to the threats posed by government budget deficits and the uncertain future of the economy, in the lead-up to the May 2010 election, when nearly every category of public expenditure was subject to the prospect of deep cuts, no major party endorsed significant reductions in the NHS budget.

However, as the chart illustrates, other areas that important constituencies also favour, such as education, have experienced lower growth, especially as a share of the Government budget.

This chart forms part of an expert study by Provost of Harvard University and Nuffield Trust Rock Carling Fellow, Professor Alan Garber, on the question of how best to balance incentives to promote innovation and improve efficiency in the NHS.

The full findings of this research were published in the Nuffield Trust Viewpoint: Competition, integration and incentives: the quest for efficiency in the English NHS, in December 2011.