§ Mr. Viggersasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will estimate the number of retail pharmaceutical outlets operating in the United Kingdom during each of the last five years and the number of such outlets which will be operating on 1st January 1978.
§ Mr. MoyleAccording to the records of the Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain and the Department of Health and Social Services in Northern Ireland, which are responsible for keeping appropriate registers of pharmacies, actual numbers of pharmaceutical outlets in the United Kingdom at 31st December of each of the years from 1972 to 1976 were as follows:
Because of variable factors it is not possible to project reliably the number of retail pharmaceutical outlets that will be operating on 1st January 1978.
Year Outlets 1972 12,542 1973 12,266 1974 1,042 1975 1,733 1976 11,507