Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will estimate the annual cost to the public purse of administering exemptions for eligible students from (a) dental charges and (b) prescription charges.

In England, there are a number of exemptions for both prescription and dental charges for which students may qualify, although only two are specifically for students. Young people aged 16, 17 or 18 and in qualifying full-time education are entitled to free prescriptions, and those age 18 and in qualifying-full time education are entitled to free dental treatment. Another exemption, which covers significant number of students, provides for exemption from dental charges for all young people aged under 18. It is not possible to identify the costs of administering these specific student related exemptions, as the associated costs cannot be differentiated from the overall costs associated with processing prescriptions and reimbursing pharmacies, and processing dental charges.

There is no specific exemption for prescription or dental charges for undergraduate students, and it is not possible to differentiate undergraduates who qualify via one of the various available exemptions from those who aren’t undergraduates. It is not possible, therefore, to estimate the cost to the public purse of providing free prescriptions or dental treatment to undergraduates who qualify for exemption.