Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 24 November 2015 to Question 16575, if he will review the adequacy of the number and accessibility of pharmacy facilities; and if he will make a statement.

NHS England is responsible for ensuring the adequate provision of pharmaceutical services. Local authority Health and Wellbeing Boards (HWBs) assess the need for pharmaceutical services for the relevant area and describe this in the Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment (PNA). Each HWB was required to publish its first PNA by April 2015 following a full local consultation. NHS England determine applications from a prospective contractor to provide NHS pharmaceutical services by reference to the most recent PNA and whether there is an need identified in the PNA.

The National Health Service (Pharmaceutical and Local Pharmaceutical Services) Regulations 2013 (as amended) require the Secretary of State to carry out a review of the Regulations and publish the report before the end of August 2017.