§ Mr. AshleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to his answer of 19 May to the hon. Member for Swansea, East (Mr. Anderson) setting out the amount due to pharmacists from 1978 to 1988, if he will specify the amounts included which are in respect of drug and container cost reimbursement; whether the amounts due for profit are stated on a pre-interest basis; if he will express these as a percentage of turnover; and if he will give estimates of the amount due for costs in £m and the profit in £m and percentage of turnover for 1988–89 and 1989–90.
§ Mr. Mellor[holding answer 15 June 1989]: The figures given in my reply to the hon. Member for Swansea, East (Mr. Anderson) on 18 May at column 284, excluded the payments made as reimbursement of expenditure on drugs and containers. The amounts due for profit included interest on capital employed. Amounts due for profit expressed as a percentage of amounts paid as reimbursement of expenditure on drugs and containers in England and Wales were as follows:
Year Percentage 1978 3.57 1979 3.52 1980 4.78 1981 5.48 1982 5.10 1983 4.67 1984 4.62 11985 5.28 1985–86 5.19 1986–87 4.79 1987–88 4.58 1 1 January 1985 to 31 March 1985. Current estimates for 1988–89 are: amount due for costs £437.2 million amount due for profit £70.7 million, profit as a percentage of drug and container costs 3.68 per cent. As from 1 April 1989 amounts due for costs and profit are no longer calculated as separate items of remuneration.