To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the number of people with mild or moderate depression in (a) Hemel Hempstead and (b) Hertfordshire. (242679)

The information requested is not held centrally.

Most people with depression are seen and treated in primary care. However, data on the number of people with individual conditions seen in primary care—such as depression—are not held centrally. While data are available on the total number of people admitted to the care of a consultant in secondary care with depression, they are likely to exclude many patients diagnosed with mild to moderate depression.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the cost of prescribing anti-depressant drugs in (a) Hemel Hempstead and (b) Hertfordshire was in the last year for which figures are available. (242680)

The British National Formulary (BNF) classifies anti-depressant drugs within Section 4.3. The following table shows the net ingredient cost for drugs within this section that have been prescribed in West Hertfordshire primary care trust (PCT), which covers Hemel Hempstead, and in West Hertfordshire PCT and East and North Hertfordshire PCT combined, which cover Hertfordshire.