Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 30 April 2019 to Question 245660 on Prescriptions: Fees and Charges, what the annual cost is to the NHS Business Services Authority's Loss Recovery Service of (a) checking prescription form exemption declarations, (b) issuing Penalty Charge Notices and (c) managing associated customer contact.

In 2018-19 the cost to the NHS Business Services Authority for the running of the Prescription Exemption Checking Service which includes, checking prescription form exemption declarations, issuing Penalty Charge Notices and managing associated customer contact was £8.41 million.