Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is tacking to support community pharmacies in North East Somerset and Hanham constituency.

The Government recognises that pharmacies play a vital role in our healthcare system and is grateful to pharmacy teams across the country, including in North-East Somerset and Hanham, for their hard work, professionalism, and dedication in supporting patients in their communities, and for delivering a wide range of National Health Services.

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 NHS, over 19% across 2024/25 and 2025/26.

There is also additional funding available, for example for pharmacies delivering Pharmacy First consultations and flu and COVID-19 vaccinations. The Pharmacy Access Scheme provides additional funding to support pharmacies in areas where there are fewer.

This year, we will take forward legislation to enable all pharmacies to benefit from the efficiencies of hub and spoke dispensing and enable greater use of the skill mix in pharmacy teams to free up pharmacists to spend more time with patients.