Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what his policy is on ringfencing Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme payments specifically to pay for medicinal drugs.

Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme (PPRS) payments are allocated to each of the four countries of the United Kingdom on an agreed basis each year. It is a matter for the devolved health administrations to decide how to use the apportioned payments they receive from the PPRS.

The Department ensures that all the income it receives from PPRS payments in England is reinvested in the National Health Service for patients’ benefit. The Department includes the expected PPRS payments in setting the NHS England allocations in advance of each year.

NHS England is responsible for allocating its overall budget (which includes expected income from PPRS payments in England) between clinical commissioning groups, specialised commissioning etc. Following normal Government accounting rules, there is no separately identified or ring-fenced funding stream associated with the PPRS payments.

The Government believes that NHS commissioners and providers are best placed to decide how to allocate their budgets to deliver improvements in the outcomes for patients. The PPRS includes a number of commitments for improving patient outcomes by improving access to clinically and cost effective medicines.