To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent assessment he has made of the effects on (a) the UK balance of payments, (b) UK jobs and (c) the number of traffic movements of moving the production of oxycodone hydrochloride formulations from the United Kingdom to another country in the European Union; and if he will make a statement. (77134)

No such assessments have been made.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many producers and suppliers of oxycodone hydrochloride in the European economic area are approved as alternative sources of supply of the raw material to UK manufacturers of oxycodone preparations for the British market. (76539)

No application has been received to import oxycodone hydrochloride or its base materials from any territory within the European economic area.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the effect on UK producers of oxycodone hydrochloride formulations of other EU countries interpreting the United Nations Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs (1961) less restrictively than his Department; and if he will make a statement. (76540)

No such assessment has been made.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will take steps to ensure that production of oxycodone formulations does not move from the UK to elsewhere in the European Union as a result of Home Office interpretation of the United Nations Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs of 1961. (76952)

Production of controlled drugs, such as oxycodone, is governed by the United Nations Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, 1961 and implemented by the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971. Licensed production under the Act limits domestic trade to medical and scientific purposes. The policy on licensing takes no account of commercial considerations nor does the Act confer any power to compel a manufacturer to remain within the United Kingdom.