asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will make a statement about the tests on and availability of annual contraceptive injections.

No product licence has been granted for marketing in this country a once-a-year contraceptive injection. However, my hon. Friend may be referring to two products on the market which have recently been mentioned in the Press. One of these is an injectable progestational agent. In 1974, on the advance of the Committee on Safety of Medicines, the licensing authority approved its marketing as a short term anti-fertility agent when pregnancy is contraindicated in certain clearly defined circumstances. Although the product licence is limited in this way, doctors may exercise their clinical judgment as to the way in which they prescribe a medicinal product and I am informed that on this basis this product is used in particular patients as a quarterly injection.The other product is an intrauterine contraceptive device containing a progestogen and it requires annual replacement. It was granted a product licence in 1973.