Oliver Colvile
Main Page: Oliver Colvile (Conservative - Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport)Department Debates - View all Oliver Colvile's debates with the Leader of the House
(12 years, 3 months ago)
Commons ChamberThe BBC is an independent organisation and is responsible for allocating its funds and finding savings. If the hon. Lady wants to apply to the Backbench Business Committee for a debate on how the BBC is organised, I am sure she will get a warm reception from its newly elected members.
Earlier this week, the all-party group on pharmacy published a report after a six-month inquiry into prescription medicine shortages. The difficulty is that patients cannot always get them. May we have a debate, or at least a ministerial statement, to find out what the Government propose to do about this awful situation?
I applaud my hon. Friend’s work as vice-chairman of the all-party group, which I understand was founded by the Deputy Leader of the House. About 900 million prescriptions are issued each year for about 16,000 medicines, some of which, as my hon. Friend said, are in short supply. The Government will want to respond to the report. Contingency arrangements are in place whereby if a pharmacy cannot get a medicine from the wholesaler, it can go direct to the supplier. We do all that we can to prevent shortages, but as I said, we will want to respond to the suggestions in his report.