HC Deb 19 March 1990 vol 169 c461W
Mr. Pike

To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will give the total numbers of people entitled to free prescriptions on the ground of low income alone(a) on 31 March 1988 and (b) on the latest date for which figures are available.

Mrs. Virginia Bottomley

At 31 March 1988 about 3.8 million people were entitled to free prescriptions on the grounds of low income. The corresponding figure for 31 March 1989, the latest date for which information is available, is estimated to have been 3.4 million.