asked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what is the total number of prescriptions for tranquillisers for each of the last three years for which figures are available, together with the cost in each year.

The information is as follows:

Year			Number of prescriptions for tranquillisers	Cost
				£
1976	…	…	775,874	562,624
1977	…	…	784,863	699,520

Due to a reclassification of some products in 1975 comparable information is not readily available for that year and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.