§ Mr. JenkinsTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the annual cost of prescription fraud in(a) Tamworth, (b) Staffordshire and (c) the west midlands. [9777]
§ Mr. MilburnThe report of the efficiency scrutiny into prescription fraud, published last month, estimated levels of prescription fraud in England and Wales as £85 million£115 million per year. Based on the six-monthly exemption checking exercise carried out by family health services authorities, it is estimated that in 1995–96 the loss of revenue from patient charge evasion was about £0.4 million in Staffordshire family health services authority and about –5 million in West Midlands regional health authority. The total loss of revenue from patient charge evasion for that year, calculated on a different basis to that used by the efficiency scrutiny, was an estimated £34.5 million. It is not possible to estimate the loss in Tamworth alone.