§ Mr. Cohenasked the Secretary of State for Social Services on how many occasions in the current financial
98W
Average daily number of available beds in National Health Service hospitals in England Regional, District and Special Health Authority 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 Northern Regional Health Authority Hartlepool 592 614 600 627 636 705 607 North Tees 956 971 954 952 973 970 941 South Tees 2,282 2,232 2,122 2,066 2,069 1,973 1,902 East Cumbria * * * 1,552 1,532 1,524 1,491 South Cumbria * * * 872 862 847 874 West Cumbria 1,113 1,094 1,045 1,052 1,078 1,087 1,047 Darlington 1,310 1,336 1,326 1,307 1,319 1,264 1,225 Durham 1,192 1,188 1,181 1,156 1,165 1,107 1,103 North West Durham 717 697 685 681 664 642 611 South West Durham 1,921 1,890 1,847 1,828 1,800 1,719 1,690 Northumberland 3,996 3,988 3,870 3,827 3,766 3,727 3,664 Gateshead 1,368 1,378 1,357 1,362 1,383 1,368 1,365 Newcastle upon Tyne 3,479 3,570 3,567 3,517 3,566 3,488 3,401 year his staff responsible for scrutinising the accounts of companies which supply drugs to the National Health Service have discovered (i) breaches of profit targets allowed by the Department of Health and Social Security under the pharmaceutical price regulation scheme, (ii) that the companies' costs cannot be properly validated, (iii) that their capital employed is excessively inflated, and (iv) that the cost of the raw materials from a foreign subsidiary drug company has been artificially inflated and (v) that costs for drug trials, or for researching copied drugs, are bogus or unacceptable and really for promotional purposes; how much money he estimates is involved under each category; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. NewtonInformation is not available in the form requested. Companies supplying drugs to the National Health Service in significant quantities submit audited financial returns which are examined by the Department, following which detailed adjustments may be made for a variety of reasons in assessing a company's level of profit on National Health Service sales.