Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans his Department has to increase the number of independent qualified prescribers in community pharmacies.

From 2026, all pharmacists will qualify with a prescribing qualification. We are also training approximately 3,000 pharmacists to be independent prescribers in each year until 2024. This training is accessible to pharmacists in all settings including community pharmacy, general practice and hospitals. In addition, independent prescribing pilots will commence England from 2023 to test how National Health Service clinical services with a prescribing element could be introduced in community pharmacy in England.