Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent discussions he has had with NHS England on assessment of dispensing appliance contractor licences on a national basis.

The Department sets the legislative framework for the inclusion of dispensing appliance contractors on National Health Service England pharmaceutical lists. It is up to NHS England to administer the Regulations and to monitor these contractors. It is for NHS England to approach the Department if they wish to discuss changes to the legislative arrangements. No such approach has been made.