To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 26 January 2009, Official Report, column 252W, if he will bring forward proposals for regulations to require that a patient must be examined by a prescriber before a prescription is issued for a controlled drug; and if he will make a statement. (271446)

We have no plans to regulate the prescribing of controlled drugs in this way. The decision as to when a patient is seen by their prescriber, before the issue of any prescription, is a matter for their professional judgment. In exercising their judgment, they are supported by the issue of guidance by their professional regulator.