§ 6.2 pm
§ Mr. Martin Salter (Reading, West)In common with many other right hon. Members and hon. Members, I have been petitioned by pharmacists and the customers of community pharmacies with a generic petition entitled "Save our pharmacy services".
The petition states:
The petition of the residents of ReadingDeclares that the proposals to allow unrestricted opening of pharmacies able to dispense NHS prescriptions would undermine the excellent service currently provided by community pharmacists.The Petitioners therefore request that the House of Commons reject proposals to allow unrestricted opening of pharmacies able to dispense NHS prescriptions.And the Petitioners remain, etc.I welcome the Government's statement today that they do not believe that this is the time to move to a fully deregulated system. They therefore intend to move cautiously in the direction recommended by the Office of Fair Trending. I believe that my petitioners would recommend that the Government reject the OFT recommendations entirely.
§ To lie upon the Table.