Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of capping the price of veterinary prescription charges on levels of pricing by providers who offer prescriptions under the cap.

The Department has not made an assessment of the impact of capping veterinary prescription charges on pricing. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is independent of Government and is responsible for remedies resulting from market investigations.

In its final report, the CMA set a £21 cap on first prescription fees based on evidence of fees charged across the veterinary services market. It considered that this would reduce higher fees while allowing practices to recover reasonably efficient costs.

Full details of the CMA’s approach are set out in Part B of its final report (pages 262–311), available at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/veterinary-services-for-household-pets-final-decision-report