Where did Darling get his 5 per cent figure from?

 

He said: “I can confirm that we are able to secure these savings that year, while increasing investment, as planned, for local health services by over 5 per cent and for schools by over 4 per cent.”

But the cash increase between 2009-10 and 2010-11 is only going to be 4 per cent (£4.1bn, to £104bn for the DH, translating into £102.3bn for the NHS). He seems to be exploiting the negative inflation figures (RPI to be -3 per cent by the November, he says) to come to this. It may make a nice headline, but I doubt it will wash well with NHS managers who will have to cope with a fixed wage bill and rising demand.