§ Mr. Groundasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what in 1982 was (a) the total fees disbursed to ophthalmic opticians as National Health Service dispensing fees and (b) the total wholesale cost including value-added tax on the appliances so dispensed.
§ Mr. Kenneth ClarkeInformation is not available in the form requested. We estimate, however, that the total dispensing fees due to ophthalmic opticians' practices for 1982—including the arrears of fees paid in 1983—was £22 million. The estimated total cost to the NHS of frames, lenses and spectacle cases supplied by those practices was £40 million.