It is the percentage of health authorities that make a decision to allocate in their budgets for the purchase of beta interferon. Only 5 per cent. of the health authorities in Wales have done so.

The figures for England are: 5 per cent. in the Northern and Yorkshire region, with 14 health authorities; 10 per cent. in Trent; 50 per cent. in the South and West area; 56 per cent. in the Anglia and Oxford region; 80 per cent. in the North Thames area; and 92 per cent. in the South Thames region. Someone is okay if they live in Northern Ireland, because the figure there is 100 per cent., but those in the West Midlands area are in dire straits, because not a single health authority in that region has decided to purchase beta interferon.

A letter from the chief executive of the MS Society, dated 6 January, to my hon. Friend the Member for Warley, East (Mr. Faulds) says: A year after the licensing of the product (Beta Interferon 1 B) there are still very few MS patients who are receiving the drug in the West Midlands. There seems to be a gap between policy and practice here". There is indeed a yawning gap. As of the middle of last year, only 160 patients nationally were being prescribed beta interferon.

Mr. Cardy said in his article in The House Magazine: It is frankly scandalous that whether you are treated for MS depends on where you live. That must be true.

Clearly, we do not want to go through this performance each time a new drug for MS is licensed. Other drugs are coming along which are available elsewhere, but not here in the United Kingdom. The licensing procedure should guarantee the effectiveness and the efficacy of the drug in question. In the case of beta interferon, that seems to be beyond doubt. It stretches the time between relapses by up to one third, and that is what people with MS care about. It does not necessarily stop the progress of the disease towards disability, but it does influence relapses.

Dr. Winyard wrote in the letter that was circulated to health authorities in October that no date had been set for the national trial, and I would like the Minister to comment on that. Why has a national trial to assess the impact of the drug on disability been pigeonholed? That is not good enough.

There are one or two other issues that I want to highlight in the time available to me. For example, there are not enough neurologists in the country. In a debate a few weeks ago instigated by my hon. Friend the Member for Stratford-on-Avon, the Under-Secretary said that there are 260 consultant neurologists in England and Wales, and added that the number had increased by 4.3 per cent. over the past five years.