This week in Parliament w/c 10th & 17th March

Welcome back to the APPG on Pharmacy Parliamentary update covering w/c 17th and 24th  March. We return with a host of written questions and spoken contributions, as well as debates on community pharmacy and pharmacy opening hours. Set out below is a summary of key parliamentary and policy developments in community pharmacy from the weeks gone.

Key Parliamentary Activity

Oral Contributions

Spring Statement – Wednesday 26th March 2025. Full transcript available here.

  • Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrats) asked Rt. Hon Rachel Reeves about the funding for Pharmacy First and whether this would continue beyond March 2025. In her response, Rachel Reeves noted the extra £20 billion to rebuild the NHS but did not note any specific commitments.

Community Pharmacy – Tuesday 25th March 2025. Full transcript available here.

  • Sarah Hall (Labour Co-op) posed questions on the implementation of hub and spoke models and recent legislative changes.

  • Rishi Sunak (Conservative) spoke on the role of community pharmacies in providing free health checks and services.

  • Dr Luke Evans (Conservative) spoke on the importance of publishing he independent report commissioned by NHS England on pharmacies’ finances, citing calls from the NPA. He also mentioned the recent call from the NPA to advise all its 6,000 pharmacy members to reduce services and hours following the Budget announcements.

Pharmacy Opening Hours – House of Lords – Thursday 20th March 2025. Full transcript available here.

  • The Lord Bishop of St Albans addressed concerns regarding the publication of the independent economic analysis of pharmacy funding .

  • Lord Kakkar (Cross bench) on the importance of pharmacy services when primary care services are being restricted.

  • Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat and APPG Vice-chair) spoke on the impact of the funding issues for pharmacies, citing a letter from Community Pharmacy England to the relevant Ministers.

Written Questions:

There were 8  written questions relating to Pharmacy answered in the House of Commons  and House of Lords over the past  two weeks. These can all be viewed on Hansard here.

  • Rebecca Smith (Conservative) on the pharmacy sector in delivering NHS Health Checks

  • Rebecca Smtih (Conservative) on the Pharmacy First scheme

  • Dr Luke Evans (Conservative) on the independent economic analysis into pharmacy funding

  • Yuan Yuang (Labour) on ADHD medicine shortages

  • Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat) on pharmacy opening numbers and closures in recent years

  • Imran Hussain (Bradford East) on hub and spoke models

  • James Naish (Rushcliffe) on pharmacists prescribing powers

  • Preet Kaur Gill (Birmingham Edgbaston) on digital patient records

Public Accounts committee inquiry into: Antimicrobial resistance: addressing the risks.

27 March 2025 - Antimicrobial resistance: addressing the risks - Oral evidence

The session follows a report published on the same issue by the National Audit Office (NAO). Reference was made to the role of pharmacies during the session - a full readout will be included in next week’s update.