Clause 29 - Pilot schemes
Health and Social Care Bill
10:15 am
Mr John Denham (Minister of State, Department of Health; Southampton, Itchen, Labour)
We are slightly anticipating a later debate. It will be necessary to make provision for the return of an LPS scheme to the national contract arrangements, rather as assurances have been given about the return of personal medical services GPs to general medical services. Different approaches will be necessary, because we would not want LPS to become a loophole in the current entry requirements for pharmaceutical services. Someone might set up an LPS scheme, and then three months later abandon it and go back to the national contract, having evaded the rules. LPS will require a slightly different approach to that for PMS. The hon. Member for Runnymede and Weybridge makes a telling point. We cannot expect anyone to make a fairly substantial capital investment in scheme that might run for only three years—or, as proposed in one of the amendments, for only two years. We shall need to address that point.
I turn next to resale price maintenance. The current hearing on the subject is being led not by the Government, but by the relevant competition authorities. The Government are not involved. The matter was first dealt with by the Office of Fair Trading, and it is now in the hands of the restrictive trade practices court. Our view is that the court is best placed to weigh the matter. What effect, if any, the ending of resale price maintenance will have on pharmacy provision cannot be considered until the court has reached its decision. I understand that the original court proceedings were halted and a new hearing is set to start on 24 April. Once the court has made its ruling, we shall need to consider its implications for the organisation of NHS pharmacy services. It would be premature to speculate on the outcome of the hearing.