§ 3. Mr. Frank Allaunasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if, in view of the high administrative costs in checking claims for free prescriptions, the difficulties facing the low-paid worker as shown by the survey of post offices in the Greater Manchester area, and the minimal revenue the charges have yielded, he will abolish these charges.
§ Dr. John DunwoodyNo, Sir. I will send my hon. Friend a copy of my letter to my hon. Friend the Member for Manchester, Wythenshawe (Mr. Alfred Morris) about the availability of leaflets in post offices in Manchester.
§ Mr. AllaunDoes my hon. Friend now regard these prescription charges as temporary? If so, how temporary? Since 87 out of 203 post offices in that typical area of Greater Manchester could not produce the correct forms for low-paid workers, is not this an additional argument for abolishing the charges, as the Labour Party conference has twice asked?
§ Dr. DunwoodyI am informed that the Post Office inquiries in the Manchester area and subsequently throughout the North-West Region revealed no case in which the postmaster did not know of the forms in question and their use, nor any instance of those forms not being available. I do not think that I can look 645 into the glass bowl and foretell the future at this stage.
§ Sir T. BeamishWill not the hon. Gentleman answer the first part of the supplementary question put to him by the hon. Member for Salford, East (Mr. Frank Allaun)? Is the imposition of these charges a temporary measure? If so, for how long will they be imposed?
§ Dr. DunwoodyPerhaps the hon. and gallant Gentleman did not hear what I said in reply to my hon. Friend. I said that I could not look into the future in that way.