Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the implications for his policies of recent trends in the shortage of supply for drugs; and if he will make a statement.

30 concessionary prices have been granted so far for the month of January. However, we are still considering requests from the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee for January. The concessionary prices granted for each month can be found on the website of the NHS Business Services Authority.

In primary care, concessionary prices ensure that patients continue to get their medication and community pharmacists are reimbursed fairly if the price of a generic medicine suddenly increases and community pharmacies cannot purchase the medicine at the price listed in the Drug Tariff. The sudden increase in a price may be the consequence of a supply issue but may have other causes including normal market forces leading to prices going up. Concessionary prices are granted for one month.

Whilst a supply issue may lead to a price increase and therefore a concessionary price, the number of concessionary prices granted is not an indication of the number of medicines supply issues.