§ Mr. Meacherasked the Secretary of State for Wales, for the financial years 1983–84 and 1984–85, what were (a) the costs of producing and distributing literature about exemption from from prescription charges, (b) the costs of inspection for fraud in claiming exemption from prescription charges and (c) the cost of administering the sale of pre-payment certificates.
§ Mr. Mark RobinsonInformation to patients about exemption from prescription charges is contained in leaflet
1984 1985 1983/84 1984/85 1st Quarter 2nd Quarter 3rd Quarter 4th Quarter 1st Quarter 2nd Quarter 3rd Quarter Prescriptions dispensed 6,755,095 6,518,126 6,328,460 6,791,390 6,923,853 6,160,580 6,293,921 26,108,478 26,561,829 Prescription exempt from charges—percentage 83.0 83.8 84.1 84.7 84.6 85.9 85.6 82.3 83.9 Costs i Payments by Patients (excluding pre-payment certificates) (£ million) 1.5 1.3 1.5 1.6 1.6 1.7 1.7 6.0 6.2 ii Payments from Public Funds (£ million) 25.5 25.9 25.9 28.0 28.4 26.4 27.6 99.3 107.9 iii Total Costs (£ million) 27.0 27.2 27.4 29.6 30.0 28.1 29.3 105.3 114.1 iv Average gross cost per (£) 4.00 4.16 4.33 4.36 4.33 4.56 4.65 4.03 4.30 No. and type of pre-payment certificates —4 Monthly 5,678 4,116 4,990 5,035 5,789 4,272 4,825 20,454 19,932 —12 Monthly 12,525 5,822 6,985 7,464 14,023 5,918 5,909 35,541 34,294 Revenue from sale of pre-payment certificates (£) —4 Monthly 42,586 34,990 42,414 42,809 49,209 43,689 53,083 153,413 169,423 —12 Monthly 269,227 139,777 167,629 179,142 336,553 166,370 180,201 764,144 823,061 Total 311,813 174,767 210,043 221,951 385,762 210,059 233,284 917,557 992,484