§ Mr. Terry Lewisasked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) if he will list the circumstances in which general practitioners are permitted to charge a fee for providing notes as evidence of illness or infirmity to claimants who are required to produce such evidence by supplementary benefit adjudication officers;
(2) if he will take steps to exempt supplementary benefit claimants from charges imposed by general practitioners for medical certificates; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. WhitneyParagraph 31(1) of the Doctors' terms of service requires a general practitioner to issue to his National Health Service patients free of charge a certificate reasonably required as evidence to support a claim for supplementary benefit. A charge may be made if a general practitioner issues a certificate to a person who is being attended by another doctor, other than a partner, assistant, or other deputy of that doctor, or, is not being treated by, or under the supervision of, a doctor. We see no reason for wider exemption.