Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment the Regulatory Policy Committee has made of the regulatory impact assessment published by his Department in relation to recently announced plans for community pharmacy.

Under the Better Regulation Framework, the provision of public services by commercial organisations, such as community pharmacies, does not constitute a business activity.

The provision of NHS Pharmaceutical Services is therefore exempt from the Better Regulation principles and it would not have been appropriate to seek any assessment from the Regulatory Policy Committee for our proposals for community pharmacy in 2016/17 and beyond.