§ Mr. D. E. Thomasasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what was the annual expenditure on unemployment benefit in Great Britain, Scotland, Wales and the eight English regions, in 1973 and 1974 in£million, per head of population of working age, and per employee in employment.
§ Mr. MeacherEstimates for 1972–73, the last year for which information is available, are as follows:
ability of making clear to the user the quantity of progesterone and oestrogen contained in the various brands of oral contraceptives:
(4) if she will make regulations to provide that when high dose oral contraceptives are prescribed, the doctor must indicate on the prescription that such treatment is medically necessary.
§ Dr. OwenThe 1969 recommendations of the Committee on Safety of Drugs were that preparations containing 50 microgrammes of oestrogen should normally be prescribed. There are, however, certain gynaecological and other conditions in which the use of a larger dose is appropriate, and it is for doctors to decide when this is so.
I regret that I cannot provide accurate estimates of the numbers of women receiving oral contraceptives in December 1969. It is likely, however, that the majority of these women would have been prescribed a higher dosage of oestrogen.
In 1974 over 97 per cent. of prescriptions for oral contraceptives on forms FP 10 were for preparations containing 50 microgrammes or less of oestrogens. In view of this I do not at present think that 311W the special measures suggested by my hon. Friend are necessary.
§ Mr. Rookerasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what estimate her Department has made of the number of women taking oral contraceptives at the latest convenient date compared with December 1969.
§ Dr. OwenThere is no accurate estimate of the total number of women using oral contraceptives. For the nine months ending 31st December the number of women attending NHS family planning clinics for whom oral contraception was the primary method of birth control chosen, recommended or already being used on the first visit during the year was 584,133. The returns from seven area health authorities have not yet been received. The number of women who were prescribed an oral contraceptive by a family practitioner during this period is not known.
In her study "Family Planning Services in England and Wales" (HMSO 1973) Margaret Bone estimated that, in 1970, 19 per cent. of married women were using oral contraceptives. A study being carried out by Mrs. Bone this summer will provide up-to-date information on this point.
There are no estimates available for 1969.