Asked by: Shivani Raja (Conservative - Leicester East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to help improve influenza vaccination uptake in (a) Leicester and (b) the East Midlands.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department works closely with the UK Health Security Agency and NHS England to improve vaccination uptake. In Leicester, NHS England has advised that flu vaccination uptake has increased compared with last winter, with notable improvement in school‑age flu vaccination.
Across the East Midlands, NHS England has advised that there has been an increase in uptake compared to this time last year for most cohorts, notably within two and three year olds and frontline healthcare worker cohorts, though lower uptake has been seen in over 65 year olds and care home cohorts.
This year, NHS England has introduced, for the first time, an expansion to the two to three-year-old flu offer with appointments available via community pharmacy sites to support easier access.
NHS England has been working closely with local integrated care boards (ICBs) and wider partners including acute and community hospitals, community pharmacies, and general practices, to take an integrated approach to improving influenza vaccination uptake across all eligible groups.
Local ICBs are working together with community leaders and local partners to ensure that information is shared within communities about how, when, and where people can get vaccinated.
Asked by: Joe Robertson (Conservative - Isle of Wight East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether HM Treasury has conducted or commissioned an impact assessment on how the April 2026 business rates increase may affect the financial sustainability of community pharmacies.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
At the Budget, the VOA announced updated property values from the 2026 revaluation. This has led to increases in rateable values for some properties, as current values are based on pandemic-era valuations.
In recognition of the impact of the revaluation on bills, the Government introduced a support package worth £4.3 billion, to protect against ratepayers seeing large overnight increases in bills.
At Budget, the Government announced wider reforms to business rates for retail, hospitality and leisure (RHL) properties, reducing tax rates paid for by a higher rate on the top one per cent of most expensive properties.
The introduction of permanent, lower RHL tax rates is worth almost £1 billion to over 750,000 RHL properties. The tax rate on smaller high street businesses will be 25% lower than for businesses with the most valuable properties.
The new RHL tax rates replace the temporary RHL relief that has been winding down since COVID. Unlike RHL relief, the new rates are permanent, giving businesses certainty and stability, and there will be no cap, meaning all qualifying properties on high streets across England will benefit.
This includes community pharmacies with rateable values below £500,000 that are open to members of the public. Further details on what is meant by “visiting members of the public” can be found online here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/business-rates-multipliers-qualifying-retail-hospitality-or-leisure.
Asked by: Lord Booth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether NHS patients in England are free to have a prescription at primary care level issued at a pharmacy of their choice.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Patients have the power to nominate a pharmacy for their regular dispensing or can choose to nominate a different one each time they are issued a prescription.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the role of pharmacy-first protocols and pharmacy-led clinics in the early intervention and ongoing management of chronic spontaneous urticaria.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Chronic spontaneous urticaria is not one of the conditions currently included in the Pharmacy First Clinical pathway protocols. NHS England will continue to keep the clinical scope of the Pharmacy First service under review, including any future service expansion to include new conditions.
If patients do not qualify for the Pharmacy First service, they should still be able to access healthcare advice from their pharmacy. Support for self-care is an essential service that all pharmacies must provide. This can include the provision of healthcare advice, the sale of over-the-counter medicines and, where appropriate, pharmacies must signpost to other providers if the supply of a prescription-only medicine is required.
Asked by: Helen Maguire (Liberal Democrat - Epsom and Ewell)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the budget for NHS dentistry is for 2026.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The 2026/27 dental ringfenced budget for NHS dentistry is £4.2 billion. For 2026/27, the budget for dental checks in Special Educational Settings (SES) is being included within the dental ringfenced budget. This was previously included within the wider Pharmacy, Ophthalmic, Dental (POD) budget but was not ringfenced with other dental spend.
NHS England has now published the Medium-Term Planning Framework for delivering change together 2026/27 to 2028/29, which is available at the following link:
In addition, information on allocations for 2026/27 to 2027/28 is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/allocation-of-resources-2026-27-to-2027-28/
NHS organisations are now in the process of developing their operational plans that will detail how they will meet the standards set out in the Medium-Term Planning Framework.
A separate schedule has been issued setting out the 2026/27 to 2028/29 Integrated Care Board (ICB) POD allocations. The utilisation of ICB POD allocations is subject to a ringfence on budgets for dental services. More information is available at the following link:
Asked by: Julian Smith (Conservative - Skipton and Ripon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of public awareness campaigns on hypertension; and whether he plans to introduce additional measures to encourage regular blood pressure monitoring amongst adults.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
In March 2024, the Department launched a campaign to raise awareness of high blood pressure, or hypertension, and to encourage those eligible to get checked for free at their local pharmacy. The campaign ran for three weeks with advertising on television, video-on-demand, social media, and on poster sites near to pharmacies, in addition to public relations and partnerships support.
Visits to the National Health Service pharmacy look-up tool increased by over 967%, and there were 117,546 visits to the tool over the campaign period, compared to 12,154 in the three weeks prior to the campaign launch. In March 2024, 50,046 more people got life-saving blood pressure checks than in the same period the previous year, a 42% uplift. In April 2024, there were 76,627 more checks, equivalent to a 66% uplift.
We continue to invest heavily in the community pharmacy hypertension service, and since October 2021, pharmacies have delivered nearly 4.2 million blood pressure and ambulatory blood pressure monitoring checks. In addition, the NHS Blood Pressure @Home initiative has delivered over 220,000 blood pressure monitors to enable at-risk patients to measure their blood pressure remotely.
Asked by: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of levels of pancreatic enzyme replacement therapy, including Creon, on patient health outcomes.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has made no formal assessment of the potential impact of levels of pancreatic enzyme replacement therapy (PERT) on health outcomes. However, the Department engages routinely with a range of representatives including local and regional pharmacy leads and patient charities to ensure that management strategies are improving access to PERT.
The Department is aware of ongoing intermittent supply issues with PERT, including Creon capsules. Supplies of Creon and other licensed alternatives have improved in the past year, and specialist importers have sourced unlicensed stock to assist in covering the remaining gap in the market. We continue to work closely with the manufacturers to resolve the issues as soon as possible and to ensure patients have continuous access to medicines.
We have widely disseminated comprehensive guidance to healthcare professionals about these supply issues, which provide advice on how to manage patients whilst there is disruption to supply. This includes serious shortage protocols to limit prescriptions to one month’s supply to ensure equitable distribution of available supplies and that Creon remains available for those patients who need it. The Department has issued additional management advice to healthcare professionals which directs clinicians to consider the unlicensed imports when licensed stock is unavailable and includes actions for integrated care boards to have local mitigation plans in place and implemented to ensure that no patient is left without PERT.
Asked by: Gideon Amos (Liberal Democrat - Taunton and Wellington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps NHS England will take to ensure Integrated Care Boards comply with Regulation 6(4) of the NHS (Pharmaceutical and Local Pharmaceutical Services) Regulations 2013, particularly where chemist premises are removed following a consolidation application, but no Supplementary Statement is publicly published to confirm that the relevant Health and Wellbeing Board is satisfied that no gap in service provision was created.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
If two pharmacies are consolidated onto one site, the relevant Local Authority Health and Wellbeing Board (HWB) must publish a supplementary statement to their Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment if, in their view, the consolidation has not created a gap in service provision. This requirement is set out in Regulation 6(4) of the NHS (Pharmaceutical and Local Pharmaceutical Services) Regulations 2013. Whilst it is not the responsibility of NHS England to ensure HWBs comply with this requirement, integrated care boards (ICBs) must seek assurance that a closure of a pharmacy would not create a gap when considering consolidation applications. This includes seeking the view of the HWB. Any representations received from the HWB are considered when reviewing an application from a contractor to open a pharmacy in the area. NHS England oversees the performance of ICBs through the NHS Oversight Framework 2025/26 and the Strategic Commissioning Framework.
Asked by: Zöe Franklin (Liberal Democrat - Guildford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will extend Business Rates reimbursements to Community Pharmacies.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
In the 2025 Autumn Budget, the Government took the hard choices to protect the National Health Service in England and continue prioritising reducing waiting times. We have also stepped in to cap bills and help businesses, as part of a £4.3 billion support package.
This year, we have also increased funding to community pharmacies to almost £3.1 billion, the largest uplift in funding for any part of the NHS across 2024/25 and 2025/26.
The Department will consult Community Pharmacy England on any proposed changes to reimbursement and remuneration of pharmacy contractors for 2026/27 shortly.
Asked by: Will Forster (Liberal Democrat - Woking)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of business rate increases on the community pharmacy network.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
In the Autumn Budget 2025, the Government took the hard choices to protect the National Health Service in England and continue to prioritise reducing waiting times. We have also stepped in to cap bills and help businesses, as part of a £4.3 billion support package.
This year, we have also increased funding to community pharmacies to almost £3.1 billion, the largest uplift in funding for any part of the NHS across 2024/25 and 2025/26.
The Department will consult Community Pharmacy England on any proposed changes to reimbursement and remuneration of pharmacy contractors for 2026/27 shortly.