§ Dr. Roger Thomasasked the Secretary of State for Social Services, in the manufacture and distribution of spectacles to patients, what is the present estimate of the range of profits being made by the manufacturers of lenses and frames by the prescription houses where lenses and frames are assembled, and by the opticians supplying the finished product to clients, respectively.
§ Dr. Vaughan: Information provided by manufacturers and prescription houses to assist the Department in reimbursing opticians reasonable costs for lenses and frames supplied under the general ophthalmic services is given in confidence and could not be published without a breach of this confidence. Opticians also obtain and supply spectacles to private patients and information on opticians' profits is not available.
§ Dr. Roger Thomasasked the Secretary of State for Social Services, further to the report on the optical industry, in page 3 of conclusions and recommendations, that the profitability of this work is probably more than that of dispensing private spectacles, and the fact that volume of sales stimulating competition has not kept costs and prices down, if he will set up an investigation into the contact lens sector of the optical and ophthalmic industry.
§ Dr. Vaughan: No ; the report to which the hon. Member refers was published in 1976 and I am not aware that there is currently any distortion of cost and price levels in the contact lens sector of industry. Any investigation into anticompetitive practices would be a matter for my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Trade.