§ Mr. Bevanasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will take steps to end the differential treatment whereby non-National Health Service patients whose prescriptions are made up by doctors are charged 15 per cent. value added tax but other patients are not so charged.
§ Mr. Peter ReesThere is no difference in the VAT treatment of drugs dispensed by doctors to private and National Health Service patients. In both cases the supplies are exempt from VAT. Doctors dispensing to NHS patients are able to recover the cost of the drugs from the NHS authorities and doctors dispensing to private patients will normally include such costs in their overall charges. Drugs dispensed by a pharmacist to a doctor's prescription are zero-rated from VAT in all circumstances.