Response

The figures we have provided cover 24 August 2016 – 31 August 2018

Question 1
2,259,928 PCNs have been issued in the period stated

Question 2
2,259,928. Our filtering system looks to see if a valid exemption is held. If the system finds that the exemption is not held a PCN is issued.

Question 3

I am writing to advise you that following a search of our paper and electronic records, I have established that the information you requested is not held by the NHS Business Services Authority.
We do NOT log the specific reason for the easement within the Prescription Exemption Checking Service (PECS) system.

For your information, an easement is made if the customer should have been exempt on medical grounds but did not hold a valid exemption at the time of prescription. We offer the customer an opportunity to apply for exemption. If successful in the application the Penalty Charges are removed but the prescription cost still must be paid. 
There have been 118,665 easements applied in the period stated

Question 4
The NHS Business Services Authority has recovered £37.9m in the period stated