asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what was the cost of drugs issued in National Health Service hospitals in 1979, 1980 and 1981; and what was the percentage of the total National Health Service budget.

The accounts submitted by health authorities in England show expenditure on drugs for services other than the family practitioner services was as follows:

	1978–79	1979–80	1980–81
Drugs expenditure (£ million)	128·1	155·7	185·3
Proportion of total NHS revenue expenditure (per cent.)	2·2	2·3	2·1

The bulk of this relates to drugs used in NHS hospitals, for which separate figures are not available centrally and could not be obtained except at disproportionate cost.