Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of preventing the NHS Business Services Authority from withholding funding for staff payments where a community pharmacy owes significant money.

Pharmacies are private businesses. The National Health Service Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) pays all pharmacy contractors as set out in the Drug Tariff and based on the activity they declare which is then reconciled at a later stage to ensure that the total payment accurately reflects the prescriptions dispensed and the work done.

The NHSBSA does not normally withhold funding from pharmacies unless there are good reasons to do so. If pharmacies do not give an accurate declaration of their activity, this can result in an overpayment which the NHSBSA recovers from future payments in line with the Managing Public Money guidance. This reduces the risk of financial loss to the NHS.