Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the time it will take community pharmacies to make adequate preparations for planned changes to their funding.

The changes related to Community Pharmacy in 2016/17 and beyond were announced on 20 October, which gives six weeks’ notice before the changes are implemented on 1 December. The sector has been aware since 17 December 2015 of the planned funding reduction for the 2016/17 financial year and the proposed timescales for implementing it. Indeed the resolution to be implemented in 2016/17 is £57 million lower than that initially proposed. We have provided information on the changes so that pharmacy contractors can make adequate preparations.