Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recommendations the Regulatory Policy Committee has made on recently announced plans for (a) community pharmacy and (b) the Pharmacy Access Scheme.

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.