Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential training needs of prospective pharmacists in Kingston upon Hull North constituency.

NHS England is actively engaging with local universities and other local stakeholders to explore the feasibility of new schools of pharmacy within the Humber and North Yorkshire Integrated Care Board.

Any education provider who wishes to establish a school of pharmacy can seek further information and advice from the General Pharmaceutical Council, which is responsible for the accreditation of pharmacy education and training in the United Kingdom.

The number of training places for pharmacists in England is uncapped and determined each year by health education providers. The NHS Long Term Workforce Plan, backed by over £2.4 billion to fund additional education and training places over the next five years, sets out the ambition to increase training places for pharmacists across England by nearly 50% to around 5,000 by 2031/32, and to grow the number of pharmacy technicians. Increasing training places will increase the number of pharmacy students, including those choosing to study in schools of pharmacy in proximity to the Kingston upon Hull North constituency.