Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent assessment he has made of the potential effect of changes to community pharmacy budgets on the number of pharmacies.

We are monitoring the market carefully and apart from the recent announcement by Lloyds Pharmacy there have been no significant closures since the introduction of the reforms.

Access to Pharmaceutical Services is good with 88% of people falling within a 20 minute walk of a community pharmacy. For areas where there are fewer pharmacies our access scheme continues to provide additional protection. A growing number of internet pharmacies also support access, offering patients greater choice.