Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to help prevent community pharmacy closures.

The Department is closely monitoring changes to the pharmacy network. Access to services remains good with 80% of people in England living within 20 minutes walking distance of a pharmacy and twice as many pharmacies in the most deprived areas of the country.

The Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework 2019-24 five-year deal commits £2.592 billion each year to these private contractors and the Government recently announced further funding to back the introduction of Pharmacy First and an expanded service offer. The Pharmacy Access Scheme also provides targeted financial support to pharmacies in areas where there are fewer pharmacies.