Schools, hospital spending to slow

Federal spending on public hospitals and schools will slow over the next decade, a Senate committee has heard.

Parliamentary Budget Officer Phil Bowen has told an estimates hearing on Monday commonwealth spending on hospitals is expected to slow from a historical real growth of 3.6 per cent annually to 1.7 per cent over the period beyond the next four years to 2025/26.

The figure for schools would slow from 5.5 per cent annually to 2 per cent, following the decision made in the 2014/15 budget.