Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many universal credit claimants have been investigated for fraudulently claiming free prescriptions; and in how many of those investigations claimants were found to have ticked an incorrect box on the reverse of the prescription form.

No such assessment has been made. Data on individuals claiming an exemption from the prescription charge due to being in receipt of universal credit and meeting the prescribed earnings thresholds is not yet available to be collected by the NHS Business Services Authority.