Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if his Department will bring forward legislative proposals to decriminalise dispensing errors by pharmacists.

We have consulted on our proposals to put in place a defence to the criminal sanction for inadvertent dispensing errors and received good support from patients, carers, healthcare professionals, pharmacy organisations and other bodies. We are working through the necessary processes to change the law. We are in the final stages of clearance and hope to lay the Order shortly.