asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will consider making available clearly printed, plain language data sheets for all National Health Service prescriptions for the guidance of doctors, chemists, nurses, patients and all concerned with a patient's welfare; and if he will make a statement.

Very full information for National Health Service prescribers is contained in data sheets supplied by manufacturers, for the majority of prescription-only proprietary medicines. Regulations require that data sheets shall include entries for contra-indications, precautions and warnings, action to be taken in the event of an overdose, and the main side effects and adverse reactions. I have no reason to think that prescribers find data sheets difficult to understand.Towards the end of the year, a completely revised edition of the British National Formulary is intended to be distributed, free of charge, to all prescribers and pharmacists in the National Health Service. I understand that a copy will also be made available on each hospital ward and that nursing staff will have access to it. This new edition will include very readable prescribing information covering a much wider range

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services when prescription charges were first introduced; at what rate; and, taking the £ sterling as then having a purchasing value of 100p, by what, at the latest date, this charge would have had to be increased to allow for the depreciation in the purchasing value of the £ sterling.

Prescription charges were introduced in 1952 on the basis of 5p per prescription form, regardless of the number of items. From 1 December 1956 when the average cost of a prescription item was 25p the charge became 5p per item. Based on the retail price index the charge of 5p in December 1956 would be equivalent to 27p in February 1980 when the average cost per item was about £2·65.

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will list in the Official Report the categories and numbers of persons who (a) are entitled to free prescriptions and (b) pay for prescriptions.

The number of persons entitled to claim exemption from prescription charges is not known. In England in 1979, there were 304·6 million prescription items dispensed, and of those the following were dispensed free of charge in the categories set out below:

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will list in the Official Report the number of prescriptions which were taken out for each month over the last year by (a) children

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will list the number of prescriptions dispensed for each year since 1970; and if he will

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will publish in the Official Report the total cost of all prescriptions dispensed and the actual amount borne by patients for the latest convenient period for which figures are available, together with estimated figures for the next three years following the change in prescription charges announced in the Budget.

The recently published White Paper on the Government's expenditure plans—Cmnd. 7841—gives general indications of the level of expenditure intended for future years and in

The information requested is contained in the following table:divide these totals according to whether they were dispensed free or paid for.

The information is as follows:table 2.11.7 gives the information requested for the three years 1978–79, 1979–80 and 1980–81. More detailed plans for later years of the survey period will be decided nearer the time.