asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether the chemists in Northumberland have been told by the Northumberland insurance committee that, should there be a deficit at the end of the year caused by excessive prescriptions, the chemists are the people who suffer, as their bills will not be paid; and if he will say what redress a chemist has if the doctors upon the panel prescribe beyond the limits of the regulations, and why is the chemist to be held responsible for the error?

My right hon. Friend is not aware of any such statement, the reports to which his attention has been drawn being to the effect that if excessive prescribing were permitted to continue, the chemists would suffer a loss. The Regulations contain provisions (to which the insurance committee also alluded) enabling the cost of excessive prescribing to be surcharged against the doctors responsible.

May I send the hon. Gentleman the official document which contains the very words embodied in my question?

I shall be glad to have any document the noble Lord may wish to send me.