Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many doctors are specially licensed to provide pharmaceutical heroin to addicts in (a) England and Wales, (b) Scotland and (c) Northern Ireland.

The Home Office has, since April 2011, issued 196 licences to enable Doctors to provide treatment for addicts in England and Wales by prescribing one or more of the following three substances - diamorphine (“pharmaceutical heroin”), dipipanone or cocaine. The cost of providing a breakdown by substance for these 196 licences would be disproportionate. The responsibility for issuing such licences to doctors practising in Scotland is devolved to Scottish Ministers, and in Northern Ireland to the Department of Health - Northern Ireland.