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Health Bill

My Lords, we support the amendment of the noble Earl, Lord Howe, for all the reasons that he has set out. If this provision goes ahead, I too feel that, inevitably, there will be a slant in favour of the big providers and away from the small, community-based pharmacies or sole traders. They simply cannot compete on the basis of the price on the general sales list. We all know how supermarkets, even those without a pharmacy, have moved into the pharmacy business because they can already sell general sales list products. They therefore get the bulk discounts. The noble Earl, Lord Howe, has come up with an elegant solution to the problem which he and I identified in Grand Committee. I hope that the Minister will be sympathetic to it.