§ Mr. Alfred MorrisTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how much her Department owes to community pharmacists for periods of up to(a) 60 days and (b) 90 days;
(2) if she will set out her Department's policy towards the timing of payments to community pharmacists in respect of the NHS pharmaceutical services they provide; and what steps have been taken to implement the objective of ensuring that large companies or organisations pay their debts to small suppliers within a 30-day period;
(3) on how many occasions, and to what extent in 1990–91, 1991–92 and 1992–93, community pharmacists received payment in respect of NHS pharmaceutical services within (a) 30 days, (b) 60 days or (c) 90 days of the provision of these services.
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§ Dr. MawhinneyPharmacists receive some 80 per cent. of their national health service fees and payments within one month of submitting the prescriptions they have dispensed to the prescription pricing authority. The balance is paid a month later when the authority has calculated the exact payment due. In practice this means that, in any one month, pharmacists are receiving the equivalent of a full month's payment for their work.