§ Mr. Freudasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will publish in the Official Report his Department's expenditure on National Health Service drugs in each of the last three years; if he will express the rise in annual percentage terms; and by what amounts remuneration to prescribing pharmacists has risen over this period.
§ Mr. MoyleThe information, relating to the pharmaceutical services in England, is as follows:
differential payment system at the end of the year.
Arrangements for the dispensing of NHS prescriptions in rural areas were the subject of a recent report by a joint committee of the medical and pharmaceutical professions chaired by Mr. C. M. Clothier, QC. The committee's proposals are currently being considered by the two professions and we await any recommendations which they may put to us.
§ Mr. Freudasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is the total number of pharmacies in England and Wales; and what have been the total in each of the last 10 years.
§ Mr. MoyleAccording to the records of the Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain, the number of registered pharmacies in England and Wales at 31st December in each of the last 10 years has been as follows:
527W
YEAR AND REGISTERED PHARMACIES 1968 11,934 1969 11,501 1970 11,172 1971 10,922 1972 10,664 1973 10,432 1974 10,214 1975 9,963 1976 9,779 1977 9,656 At 28th February 1978 there were 9,640 registered pharmacies in England and Wales.