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 effect of VAT charges on medication on the finances of NHS Trusts.

The Department has made no such assessment. While irrecoverable VAT will be charged to National Health Service trusts on most supplies of drugs and medicines made by pharmaceutical companies, the overall funding settlements made by the Department to individual trusts includes provision for all irrecoverable VAT incurred by them. As a result, there should be no negative impact of this VAT charge on the overall finances of the NHS.