Request

1. The rationale for the removal of box X 'was prescribed free-of-charge contraceptives' from the FP10 paper form in 2020, and any evidence considered in this decision if applicable.

2. What assessment was made of the risk to equalities in removing box X 'was prescribed free-of-charge contraceptives' from the FP10 paper form, which may require patients to have prior knowledge of the NHS free contraceptives policy and openly discuss this in the public pharmacy setting, and any evidence considered in this assessment if applicable.

3. The proportion of free-of-charge contraceptive prescriptions which have mistakenly incurred a prescription charge over the past 12 months (or the most recent 12-month period available).

4. The proportion of free-of-charge contraceptive prescriptions which mistakenly incurred a prescription charge over the equivalent 12-month period of June 2018-May 2019 (or another comparable 12-month period pre-2020 if this is more feasible).

On 4 July you clarified the following:

Thank you for getting back to me on this! I was thinking of payments to contractor pharmacies, so in light of your clarification below, please disregard questions 3 and 4 and proceed with questions 1 and 2.

Response

Question 1 & 2

I am writing to advise you that following a search of our paper and electronic records, I have established that the information you requested is not held by the NHS Business Services Authority.

The removal of box X was at the direction of the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), therefore it is possible that DHSC may hold some or all of the information you require. They can be contacted at:

Ministerial Correspondence and Public Enquiries Unit Department of Health and Social Care 39 Victoria Street London SW1H 0EU United Kingdom

Telephone 0300 790 4007 Email: dhsc.publicenquiries@dhsc.gov.uk

Publishing this response

Please note that this information will be published on our Freedom of Information disclosure log at:

https://opendata.nhsbsa.net/dataset/foi-01998