Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to identify and prosecute unregulated overseas prescribers.

The Government has no powers to prosecute unregulated overseas prescribers, but arrangements are in place to safeguard patients as follows.

The UK currently recognises prescriptions from countries on an approved list. A prescription from a country not on the list would not be recognised. We will only recognise prescriptions issued by prescribers of equivalent professional status to those eligible to prescribe in the UK.

We would expect all registered pharmacies and pharmacists to meet the regulatory standards set by the General Pharmaceutical Council or the Pharmaceutical Society of Northern Ireland when considering dispensing any lawfully valid prescription. Any registered pharmacy or pharmacist failing to meet the relevant regulatory standards may be subject to action by the regulator.