Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on reducing the cost of hormone replacement therapy for patients who pay multiple prescription charges for medication with more than one ingredient.

Unless a valid exemption has been declared the statutory applicable charge of £8.80 is payable for each prescription item, such as a quantity of a drug, dispensed in the community in England. The Government has no plans to change this position in respect of combination packs of hormone replacement therapy medication comprised of multiple drugs. Accordingly, no recent discussions about this matter have taken place at Cabinet level.