Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how often the Pharmacy Rebalancing Board has met; and whether the minutes of those meetings are publicly available.

The Government has not received any recommendations from the Rebalancing Medicines Legislation and Pharmacy Regulation Programme Board to allow non-pharmacists to supervise the sale and supply of prescription medicines. In keeping with its terms of reference, the Rebalancing Programme Board is giving very careful consideration to the supervision of the sale and supply of medicines and the roles of registered pharmacists and registered pharmacy technicians, under the guidance of the four UK Chief Pharmaceutical Officers. Only when the Board has firm proposals will it make recommendations to Ministers and the devolved administrations. Any changes to legislation will be subject to full public consultation, including the completion of an impact assessment, underpinned by a quality systems approach, which maintains patient and public safety.

The Rebalancing Programme Board meets regularly according to business need, having met three times in the last year. Full terms of reference and minutes of the meetings are published at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/groups/pharmacy-regulation-programme-board