To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) tranquillisers and (b) anti-depressants were prescribed (i) in total and (ii) per head in each primary care trust in England in each year since 2006; and what the net ingredient cost (A) in total and (B) per head was in each trust in each such year. (319334)

The information requested has been placed in the Library.

Tranquillisers are defined as all those items appearing in paragraph 4.1.2 ‘Anxiolytics’ of the British National Formulary (BNF) and anti-depressants defined as those items appearing in section 4.3 ‘Antidepressant drugs’ of the BNF.

In October 2006, there was a reorganisation of primary care trusts (PCTs) and the 303 PCTs became 152 with some being abolished, others continuing and new ones being created. It is therefore not possible to give figures per head for each PCT in 2006. They have therefore not been included in the response.