§ Mr. Marksasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will exempt from prescription charges all persons between the ages of 16 and 19 years who are in full-time education or unemployed.
§ Mr. Geoffrey FinsbergMost young people between the ages of 16 and 19 who are in full-time education or unemployed qualify for exemption from prescription charges on low-income grounds, since it is their own income and not that of their parents which is taken into account in determining entitlement.
We have no plans to extend automatic exemption from prescription charges to include yong people of 16 to 19 years who are in full-time education or unemployed. The arrangements to exempt children from prescription charges are intended to provide for the medicines required in the treatment of the various ailments of childhood. Young people of 16 to 19 years do not have significant prescription needs and, as a group, do not have as strong a claim for exemption as some other groups of people.