To ask the Minister of Health to detail the funding bids he will be putting forward to enable implementation of the Community Pharmacy Strategic Plan 2030.

The Community Pharmacy Strategic Plan brings together four existing inter-related programmes of work led by the Department, to support the delivery of six strategic priorities up to 2030. Those four work programmes relate to: Service Development; Legislative Reform; Workforce; and e-Pharmacy.

Some aspects of these programmes are in train and funded, including several initiatives to support workforce development. Also, in April community pharmacy received an increase of £19m to its opening funding position for 2024/25, bringing it to £147m, which represents an increase of 14.8% from the previous year. However, full delivery of the strategic plan is subject to securing additional funding over the next six years, and implementation will be phased.

The Department of Health’s budget allocation for 2024-25 represents a 2.3% reduction in funding compared to our expenditure in 2023-24. The 2024-25 opening Budget allocation has left a funding gap of circa £340m.

The Department has submitted bids to the Department of Finance for June Monitoring and is aware that there is insufficient funding available to meet our bids. Due to this position, we are not able to request additional funding for any new work areas – the focus in 2024/25 is on sustaining existing services at current funding levels.