To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many pharmacists will complete training in the current year; and how many have completed training in each of the past five years. [107752]

To qualify as a pharmacist students are required to gain a pharmacy degree, successfully complete a one-year period of pre-registration practice based training and pass the registration examination. In 2001, the most recent year for which collated information is available, the intake of new students to schools of pharmacy in Great Britain was 15 per cent. higher than in 1997. The numbers of pharmacy degrees awarded by those schools over the same period are shown in the following table.

	Number
1997	1,268
1998	1,369
1999	1,567
2000	322
2001	1,239

The numbers of trainees passing the registration examination in the last five years are shown in the following table.

	Number
1998	1,188
1999	1,217
2000	1,438
2001	447
2002	1,533

These figures include overseas pharmacists who have to pass the registration examination to register in Great Britain. The move from a three to a four-year degree in 1997 gave rise to low graduation numbers and registration examination passes in 2000 and 2001 respectively.This year, in 2002–03, there are 1,327 United Kingdom graduates undertaking their practice based pre-registration training in Great Britain.