HC Deb 02 April 1980 vol 982 cc260-1W
Mr. Austin Mitchell

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services in what proportion of the total number of prescriptions the cost of the drug or medication prescribed is less than £1.

Sir George Young

In terms of the net ingredient cost per prescription the proportion is estimated to be about 30 per cent. The total cost of a prescription is of course much higher when the chemists' fees and allowances are added.

Mr. Austin Mitchell

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what quantities of drugs and other medication were prescribed in the periods immediately before and immediately after each of the last two increases in prescription charges.

Sir George Young

There is no common unit of measurement of quantities per prescription, but I give below figures for the number of prescription items dispensed for the two periods requested. The increases operated from 1 April 1971 and 16 July 1979 respectively.

1971 (Thousands)
January 22,242
February 20,877
March 24,236
April 19,179
May 19,584
June 20,117
1979 (Thousands)
April 24,566
May 25,776
June 25,799
July 25,251
August 23,548
September 23,004
October 26,547