Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to help prevent the closure of pharmacies.

Pharmacies provide vital and easily accessible healthcare in the heart of our communities. The Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework 2019-24 five-year deal commits £2.592 billion annually to community pharmacy and in September we announced a further one-off investment in the sector of £100 million.

Access remains good with 80% of the population living within 20 minutes walking from a pharmacy and the Pharmacy Access Scheme financially supports pharmacies in areas where there are fewer pharmacies. `