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 the covid-19 outbreak on (a) reforms to funding mechanisms and (b) other plans for community pharmacies set out in the five-year Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework.

Under the Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework (CPCF), £2.592 billion a year was committed to the community pharmacy sector in the five-year deal from 2019/20 to 2023/24 for the National Health Service pharmaceutical services they provide, a total of nearly £13 billion. To maintain access in areas where there are fewer pharmacies or higher health needs, additional payments, from within that funding, are made under the Pharmacy Access Scheme to eligible pharmacies.