§ Mrs. PeacockTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what is the current level of the drugs budget in the national health service, both for hospitals and for general practitioners; what the cost was in 1979; and what has been the change in each year since then.
§ Mr. MaloneThe latest provision for the cost of drugs in the family health services in 1994–95 is £3,217 million, The cost of drugs in the hospital and community health services is met from the total HCHS cash—limited allocation and a separate estimate for 1994–95 is not available. Information relating to earlier years is shown in the table.