Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he make it his policy to raise pharmacy staff wages in line with pay rises for other public sector workers.

Over one million National Health Service staff, including pharmacy staff employed on the Agenda for Change Contract, continue to benefit from the three-year Agenda for Change pay and contract reform deal (2018/19-2020/21), agreed in partnership with NHS trade unions and employer representatives.

The multi-year Agenda for Change pay and contract reform deal has seen year on year pay increases; those below the top of their pay band have seen increases of at least 9% and pay for most staff at the top of their pay band has increased by 6.5%. We expect the independent NHS pay review body to return to making pay recommendations for Agenda for Change staff for 2021/22.

For pharmacy staff not directly employed in the NHS it is for their employer to determine pay. Community pharmacies are private businesses and it is for these employers to determine staff salaries.