§ Mr. Nicholas BennettTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will give, for the latest year for which figures are available, the total number of tranquillisers of all varieties which were prescribed to National Health Service patients and the percentage that these drugs represented of all drugs prescribed to National Health Service patients, together with the total value of these tranquillisers and as a percentage of the total cost of National Health Service drugs; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. MellorIn England in 1987 the number of prescriptions for tranquillisers, sedatives and hypnotics dispensed by community pharmacists was 24.3 million or 7.4 per cent. of all prescriptions for drugs dispensed by them. The net ingredient cost of tranquillisers, sedatives and hypnotics was £32.5 million or 2.2 per cent. of the net ingredient cost for all drugs dispensed by community pharmacists.