Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of waiving the repayment of the £370 million allocated to community pharmacies during the covid-19 outbreak.

Discussions are ongoing with the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee (PSNC) on additional funding for costs incurred during the COVID-19 pandemic. The PSNC has proposed that the £370 million increased advance payments are not paid back to cover the COVID-19 costs incurred by community pharmacies. That proposal is being looked at as part of the Government’s ongoing assessment of COVID-19 costs incurred by the sector.