Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the level of mark-ups on dermatology specials, what consideration they have given to reforming the process by which English NHS tariff prices are set.

The Drug Tariff sets out what National Health Service dispensing contractors will be paid for the products supplied as part of providing pharmaceutical services and the fees for providing those services in primary care.

The current arrangements in the Drug Tariff for paying for specials, including dermatological specials, were introduced in 2011. It is recognised that there can be variations in the price of some specials, which is why we are considering further possible improvements in the arrangements that govern the price the NHS pays. These include expanding the number of products covered by these arrangements and improving the data used to set the prices.