Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what prescriptions have been dispensed in the community for the (a) prevention and (b) treatment of high cholesterol in (i) England and (ii) each local commissioning organisation in each of the last 10 years.

Dispensed prescription data does not distinguish between medicines dispensed for prevention and treatment. Available data for the total number of prescription items written in England for cardiovascular medicines, as defined by British National Formulary Section 2.12 Lipid-regulating drugs, and dispensed in the United Kingdom, is attached.

The England level data has been extracted from the Prescription Cost Analysis (PCA) database, administered by the Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC), and is provided for the 10 year period 2004-05 to 2013-14. As PCA data are not available for local commissioning organisations, these data have been extracted from the HSCIC’s iView online database, which is based on ePACT data. Information has been provided by primary care trust for the period 2008-09 to 2012-13. For 2013-14, data are provided at clinical commissioning group level, reflecting the National Health Service organisational changes in April 2013. Information prior to 2008-09 is not available.