Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of increasing the number of commonly used medicines that are available without prescription.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) regulates medicines, medical devices and blood components for transfusion in the United Kingdom. There has been no assessment of the potential merits of increasing the number of commonly used medicines that are available without prescription as medicines are only reclassified by the MHRA when it is safe to do so and if they meet criteria set out in legislation.