To ask the Secretary of State for Health what was the number of sight tests undertaken in each of the last nine quarters.

Statistics on NHS sight tests paid for by the general ophthalmic services are collected on a six-monthly basis. The figures for the latest available two years are as follows:

Great Britain	Sight tests paid for (millions)
April 1988—September 1988	6·641
October 1988—March 1989	7·754
April 1989—September 19891	23·828
October 1989—March 19901	2·210
April 1990—September 19901	32·358
1 After entitlement to NHS tests restricted to priority groups.
2 Includes 1·8 million tests conducted before April 1989.
3 Provisional.

Since 1 April 1989 many people who are not entitled to NHS sight tests (about two thirds of the population) have had private sight tests. The Department collects no figures relating to these tests: however, an independent NOP survey commissioned by the Department indicated that the total number of sight tests (private and NHS) during the first quarter of 1990 was at the level that could have been expected if trends up to 1987 had been projected forward.