To ask the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) if he will give the estimated number of people who have taken out private medical insurance in England and Wales;(2) if he will give the estimated number of persons including dependants, who have some form of private medical insurance, through their employers;(3) if he will give the estimated average cost of treatment per person per annum provided under private medical insurance.

Information on the average cost of treatment and the number of people with company insurance is not collected centrally. The estimated number of people in the United Kingdom covered by private medical insurance was 5·25 million at 31 December 1986 (latest available data).