Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she has taken to evaluate the impact of the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme on pharmacies.

NHS England is currently undertaking a review of the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme and will publish this in the coming months.

From General Pharmaceutical Council registration data, we know that across all sectors, the number of registered pharmacists in England has increased by 57% since 2010 from 33,668 to 52,803 as of June 2023.

The Community Pharmacy Workforce Survey 2022 shows we have 27,711 pharmacists, which is 1% higher compared to 2021, and 6,544 pharmacy technicians working in community pharmacy, which is 16% lower compared to 2021.

In general practice, as of September 2023, there were 810 full-time equivalent (FTE) advanced pharmacist practitioners, 7,585 FTE pharmacists and 2,431 FTE pharmacy technicians.