Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the cost to the NHS that would be incurred by an (a) 1% and (b) 2% rise in the rate of employers national insurance contributions.

We do not comment on speculation around hypothetical situations. Any decisions that could be taken on National Health Service budgets for future years will be announced at fiscal events, including the Spending Review.