The text on this page has been created from Hansard archive content, it may contain typographical errors.
Mr. Alex Carlile
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what proportion of prescriptions given to adults of less than pensionable age result in the payment of the prescription charge; and if he will make a statement.
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley
An estimated 40 per cent. of prescription items dispensed to adults below the state retirement pension age attract a charge. Extensive exemption and charge remission arrangements, coupled with the prescription prepayment certificate scheme, protect those people who may otherwise have difficulty in paying prescription charges. In 1990–91 a charge was paid on only one item in six dispensed in the NHS and 100 million more items were dispensed free than in 1979, when one item in three attracted a charge.
| Table 1 | |||||
| Number of residential care places primarily for the elderly, by sector, and housing association stock for the elderly in the North Yorkshire local authority 1987–91 | |||||
| Numbers | |||||
| Housing Association | |||||
| As at 31 March | Local authority homes | Voluntary homes | Private homes | Housing units1 | Hostel bedspaces2 |
| 1987 | 2,004 | 603 | 2,893 | 1,330 | 280 |
| 1988 | 1,984 | 562 | 3,202 | 1,370 | 360 |
| 1989 | 1,952 | 626 | 3,314 | 1,580 | 320 |
| 1990 | 1,876 | 582 | 3,350 | 1,580 | 350 |
| 1991 | 1,823 | 648 | 3,413 | 2,120 | 380 |
| 1 Housing units—Total number of units in schemes designed for the elderly. The units are self contained dwelling units and units in shared housing with no warden support. In the latter case, one unit is a group of rooms sharing facilities. | |||||
| 2 Hostel bedspaces—Bedspaces in hostels catering exclusively for the elderly. A hostel is a building containing single or shared rooms which are not self contained and which has warden support. Nursing homes are excluded. | |||||