HC Deb 25 March 1996 vol 274 c427W
Mr. Walden

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what additional revenue would accrue from limiting free prescriptions to those on income support. [21744]

Mr. Malone

It is not possible to make a reliable estimate. The present categories of exemption or remission are not mutually exclusive. Many people qualify under several categories and therefore no reliable estimates can be made of the number of those who would qualify under income support alone and hence the number of people who would no longer qualify for free prescriptions.