Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure that the full budget available to community pharmacies in 2025-26 is spent on the sector.

For 2025/26, funding for the core community pharmacy contractual framework has been increased to £3.073 billion. This represents the largest uplift in funding of any part of the National Health Service, at over 19% across 2024/25 and 2025/26. This increased funding envelope is fully guaranteed for the sector.

The funding allocated to Pharmacy First in 2025/26 reflects the growth of the service to date, with up to £215 million available to be earned by contractors in 2025/26. It is expected that changes to the remuneration arrangements, continued work on improving referral systems, and promotions to increase public awareness and knowledge around accessing community pharmacy services will ensure levels of activity that will see this funding fully utilised.