§ Mr. Pavittasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will investigate the information sent to him by the hon. Member for Willesden, West that an area in Yorkshire has had a large increase in prescription for prothiaden which coincides with a promotion campaign which includes the free gift of stethoscopes and auroscopes to general practitioners; and if he will take this into account under the voluntary price regulation scheme.
109W
§ Sir K. JosephI regret that statistics of sales of most individual medicines, including this one, are not available broken down by executive council areas and regions. The overall sales of the company to the National Health Service and its expenses will be included in the Annual Financial Return submitted under the Voluntary Price Regulation Scheme and will be reviewed in the usual way. I am inquiring whether the activity mentioned conforms to the code of practice of the pharmaceutical industry.