§ Mr. Skinnerasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what was the cost of payments made by his Department to meet exemptions for National Health Service charges for each year since 1948; and what were the numbers of persons notified.
Optical Dental Surgical Prescriptions (b)and(g) Year Number of payments to nearest Amount to nearest Number of payments to nearest Amount to nearest Number of payments to nearest Amount to nearest Amount to nearest 1,000 £ 1,000 1,000 £ 1,000 1,000 £ 1,000 £ 1,000 1951(a) 58(a) 116(a) — — — — — 1952 135 220 47 163 10 9 209 1953 209 352 71 236 26 26 444 1954 255 435 71 234 31 30 472 1955 260 451 71 234 33 32 455 1956 269 468 71 237 34 33 488 1957 289 507 79 260 38 37 1,025 (c) 1958 290 506 85 280 39 39 972 1959 326 567 98 328 45 44 1,003 1960 373 651 114 387 51 51 1,071 1961 388 774 126 463 56 56 2,100 (d) 1962 407 884 132 508 58 58 2,519 1963 446 972 155 588 64 64 2,752 1964 450 985 152 580 67 68 2,757 1965 448 991 148 563 7 7 304 1966 490 1,084 163 618 (e) (e) (e) 1967 567 1,250 199 759 — — — 1968 575 1,256 220 816 — — 340(f) 1969 609 1,422 245 954 — — 300 1970 613 1,629 257 1,095 — — 220 NOTES: (a) Charges commenced in May, 1951. Separate figures are not available and those shown include both optical and dental charges. (b) There were no exemptions from prescription charges from 1952 to 1965. It is estimated that about £3 million a year is currently foregone on exemption certificates issued on income grounds. (c) Prescription charge increased from December, 1956, from 1 shilling per prescription form to 1 shilling per item. (d) Prescription charge changed to 2 shillings per item instead of 1 shilling per item from 1st March, 1961. (e) Charges abolished from 1st February, 1965. (f) Charges re-intoduced from 10th June, 1968. (g) The number of persons is not known.