§ Mr. GaleTo ask the Secretary of State for Health when he expects to make an announcement about the proposed increase in fees relating to the Medicinal Products for Human Use Regulations 1989 (S.I., 1989, No. 418); and if he will give the number of current applications waiting to be processed or being processed by the Medicines Control Agency.
§ Mrs. Virginia Bottomley[holding answer 22 January 1990]: Comments received during the consultation exercise are being taken into account before the final version of the fees regulations is laid before Parliament. Subject to the usual statutory processes it is intended that these amending regulations will come into effect as soon as possible. I refer my hon. Friend to the reply I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Bournemouth, East (Mr. Atkinson) on 20 December at columns 334–35.
The number of applications for new licences awaiting a decision as at 31 December 1989 was:
Number Product licences 1,867 Product licences (parallel imports) 991 Manufacturers licences 20 Wholesale dealers licences 34 Non-orthodox practitioner licences 4