§ Lord AVEBURYasked Her Majesty's Government:
What is the estimated cost of artificial infant feeds prescribed on the National Health Service in 1975–76.
§ Lord WELLS-PESTELLThe National Health Service Acts empower the Secretary of State for Social Services to provide drugs and medicines to patients being treated at home by their family doctor; but not foods, unless they are necessary for the treatment of a specific condition and can to that extent be regarded as drugs. Consequently, prescriptions for infant foods are so few that statistical sampling does not produce reliable estimates.