Official Report 84KB pdf
The regulations remove some proprietary drugs from the list of drugs that doctors are not to supply or prescribe. We have been advised that no points arise on the regulations.
It is worth noting the timing of the intimation to us of the regulations and the order that we have just considered. They were not made available to us in time for inclusion on the previous meeting's agenda. In this case, no issues arise, but if we had wanted to raise issues, it would have been difficult to communicate them to the Executive or to call witnesses to interview. We should tell the Executive that, unless overriding reasons of urgency exist, it should do what it can to dovetail with the committee's timing requirements.
We would be happy to do that. We take the position that timetabling should be organised to allow us to consider instruments and make points to which the Executive can respond in time, without calling civil servants for questioning. As no points arose on the regulations or the order, we did not call witnesses. We would have been within our rights to do so, although that would not have been the best procedure. We will make the suggested point.