Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps the Government is taking to identify and deliver efficiencies in the pharmacy sector.

The Department of Health & Social Care, with NHS England and NHS Improvement, is currently in the process of working with the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee (PSNC) to determine the Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework settlement for 2019/20. These are confidential negotiations and as such I am unable to provide any detail on these discussions at this time. The Government is committed however to working with the PSNC to deliver a fair settlement for the NHS services community pharmacies provide; one which will enable the Government to deliver our longer-term ambition of fully integrated primary medical and community services, whilst also allowing us to realise opportunities to increase value for money.