Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Written Statement of the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health of 20 October 2016, Official Report, column 971, for what reason the Government has not encouraged the national roll-out of the pharmacy minor ailments scheme with clinical commissioning groups.

A national minor illness scheme is in development. A pilot digital minor illness referral service (DMIRS), direct from NHS 111 to community pharmacy, commenced in the North East last year. Three further DMIRS pilots, supported by the Pharmacy Integration Fund, are due to be launched by early autumn 2018, in Devon, London (in a phased approach), and East Midlands. The areas will be adopting the same model used in the North East with some minor adaptations dependent on the local NHS 111 case mix. An evaluation will inform any next steps for the project.