§ Ms HarmanTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what is the time scale for payment by his Department of bills submitted by community pharmacies; and what estimate he has made of the number of bills in each of the last five years which were paid after this period. [31379]
§ Mr. MaloneA payment representing approximately 80 per cent. of the amount due for dispensing prescriptions is made to community pharmacies on the first day of the month following that in which the correctly endorsed prescription is submitted for pricing. The remainder is paid on the first day of the following month. The costs to pharmacies of payment to this time scale are included in pharmacists' pay for providing NHS pharmaceutical services. Payments made beyond this time scale are not contemplated and information on any possible instances is therefore not collected centrally.