§ Mr. Fieldasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will state when the Committee on Safety of Medicines was established; if he will list the committee's expenditure for each year; if he will also give the amounts in constant money prices for each year since its inception; and if he will estimate the budget for the current year and list in money and real terms any cuts in the committee's budget since 1979.
55W
§ Mr. Kenneth Clarke:The Committee on Safety of Medicines was established in 1971. Records of expenditure for the first three years are no longer readily available. Figures for subsequent years are given in the following table, and include costs of support staff in the Department of Health and Social Security. There has been no cut in expenditure since 1979; in real terms there is an increase of 7.7 per cent. between the actual expenditure in 1979–80 and the projected figure for 1982–83.
Actual expenditure Revalued (November 1981 prices) £000s £000s 1974–75 493 1,212 1975–76 565 1,110 1976–77 613 995 1977–78 706 1,045 1978–79 682 923 1979–80 887 1,029 1980 944 1,029 Estimated Out-Turn Revalued (November 1981 prices) £000s £000s 1981–82 1,014 1,105 1982–83 1,089 1,108 Notes
1974–75 and 1975–76: Financial years 1 April-31 March
1976–77: Estimated from actual expenditure 1 April 1976–31 August 1977.
1977–78 to date: Licensing years 1 September-31 August