Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 24 June 2019 to Question 266839 on Prescriptions: Fees and Charges, how his Department monitors the National Health Service Business Services Authority in relation to appeals against wrongly issued prescription penalty charge notices.

The NHS Business Services Authority the body responsible for issuing Penalty Charge Notices (PCNs), does not operate an appeals process against wrongly issued PCNs. However, we are informed that the NHS Business Services Authority has reduced the number of wrongly issued PCNs from an average of 30% across several years to 25% in 2018/19.