FOI-02908

Request

1. The individual amounts paid to primary care contractors for the provision of NHS dental services in the financial years 2022/23 2023/24 and 2024/25
2. The individual amounts paid to primary care contractors for the provision of NHS pharmacy services in the financial years 2022/23 2023/24 and 2024/25.

The NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) received your request on 9 June 2025.

We have handled your request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA).

Our response

Question 1 - The individual amounts paid to primary care contractors for the provision of NHS dental services in the financial years 2022/23 2023/24 and 2024/25

2022/23 and 2023/24

We can confirm that the NHSBSA holds the requested information. Under Section 21 of the FOIA we are not required to provide information in response to a request if it is already reasonably accessible to you.

The information you requested is available from the below link:

https://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/dental-data/nhs-payments-dentists

Please see the following link to view the section 21 in full -

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2000/36/section/21

2024/25

The NHSBSA does hold the requested information; however, we consider that this information is exempt from disclosure under section 22 of the FOIA. This provides an exemption from the duty to disclose information where the requested information is intended for future publication.

The Information Commissioner’s Office guidance states that “the public authority
must, at the time of the request, hold the information and intend that it or “any other person” will publish it in future. This means that it must have a “settled expectation that the information will be published at some future date”.

The information is intended for future publication in October 2025.

Section 22 is subject to the public interest test. This means that not only does the information have to prejudice one of the purposes listed, but before the information can be withheld, the public interest in preventing that prejudice must outweigh the public interest in disclosure.

Considerations for disclosure:

• Public accountability.
• The need for public authorities to be transparent in their dealings.

Considerations against disclosure:

• The information is intended for future publication once finalised.

• The information is currently in draft and therefore subject to change.

• There is an inherent public interest in not disclosing information which could be misleading to the public and may not accurately reflect the final document.

• There is an inherent public interest in allowing free and frank discussion and formulation of guidance which could be negatively impacted by the disclosure of potentially misleading information which is subject to change.

• To allow time and space for the plans findings and recommendations to be thoroughly examined and tested by peer review.

Conclusion:

We consider that the advantage to releasing this information now (rather than upon the planned publication) is outweighed by the potential prejudice to the completeness and consistency of the data provided.

Please see the following link to view the section 22 in full - https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2000/36/section/22

Question 2 - The individual amounts paid to primary care contractors for the provision of NHS pharmacy services in the financial years 2022/23 2023/24 and 2024/25.

NHS Prescription Services process prescriptions for Pharmacy Contractors, Appliance Contractors, Dispensing Doctors and Personal Administration with information then used to make payments to pharmacists and appliance contractors in England for prescriptions dispensed in primary care settings (other arrangements are in place for making payments to Dispensing Doctors and Personal Administration). This involves processing over 1 billion prescription items and payments totalling over £9 billion each year. The information gathered from this process is then used to provide information on costs and trends in prescribing in England and Wales to over 25,000 registered NHS and Department of Health and Social Care users.

Data source
Source System – Data Warehouse.

Time period
November 2023, December 2023, February 2025 and March 2025 (pharmacy data only)

This dataset FOI 02908 has 4 files

This report consists of a management information file detailing monthly Community Pharmacy payments by type of payment and contractor account. Payments include all drug costs, fees, patient charges, locally authorised payments, etc. Other details such as the numbers of items dispensed and patient charges collected are also included.

The management information file reflects the contractor's payment and prescription data associated with the Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) structure at the relevant payment date.

Note- for further information relating to the payments included within this Data Dictionary, please consult the NHS Business Services Authority's Electronic Drug Tariff and NHS Prescription Services payments information (Local Authorised Payments National Menu):

https://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/pharmacies-gp-practices-and-appliance-contractors/drug-tariff

https://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/pharmacies-gp-practices-and-appliance-contractors/dispensing-contractors-information/payment-information

Controlled Drug Fee Information

The information you requested is being withheld as it falls under the exemption in section 38(1) of the Freedom of Information Act. This is because the disclosure of which pharmacies dispense controlled drugs prescriptions is likely to lead to pharmacy staff and wholesaler delivery drivers being targeted and attacked to obtain supplies of controlled drugs. This may also affect the safety of patients and customers of those pharmacies.

This conclusion has been reached after receiving detailed information from pharmacy representative organisations.

Similarly disclosing which pharmacies are not receiving these fees will allow the pharmacies that are receiving these fees to be identified by a process of deduction. This is because a list of all active pharmacies is available in the public domain based on previous FOI disclosures we have made and also on the government website at

http://data.gov.uk/dataset/england-nhs-connecting-for-health-organisation-data-service-data-files-of-general-medical-practices

In applying this exemption we have balanced the public interest in withholding the information against the public interest in disclosing the information.

The below link sets out the exemption in full

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2000/36/section/38

See the below factors considered when deciding that in all the circumstances of the case, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

Factors in Favour of Disclosure

• Public accountability

Factors in Favour of Withholding

• Disclosure would mean staff will be at a higher risk of physical attack from persons seeking to obtain controlled drugs by force or intimidation.

• Patient safety may also be put at risk by the above.

Reasons why public interest favours withholding information
I consider that the public accountability in releasing this information is outweighed by the potential detrimental effect on the physical and mental health, and safety of pharmacy staff and their patients.

Remaining months
We can confirm that the NHSBSA holds the requested information. Under Section 21 of the FOIA we are not required to provide information in response to a request if it is already reasonably accessible to you.

The information you requested is available at the following web links, while the section 38 exemption explained above applies to this data as well:

2022

2023

2025

January https://opendata.nhsbsa.net/dataset/foi-02691

We’re giving you this link because the information you have requested has already been published and is therefore available in the public domain. Under Section 21 of the FOIA we are not required to provide information in response to a request if it is already reasonably accessible to you. 

Data Queries

Please contact foirequests@nhsbsa.nhs.uk ensuring you quote the above reference if you have any specific questions regarding this response; or, if you feel you may be misunderstanding or misinterpreting the information; or, if you plan on publishing the data.

Reusing the data and copyright

If you plan on producing a press or broadcast story based upon the data please contact communicationsteam@nhsbsa.nhs.uk. This is important to ensure that the figures are not misunderstood or misrepresented.

The information supplied to you continues to be protected by the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 and is subject to NHSBSA copyright. This information is licenced under the terms of the Open Government Licence detailed at:

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/

Information you receive which is not subject to NHSBSA Copyright continues to be protected by the copyright of the person, or organisation, from which the information originated. Please obtain their permission before reproducing any third party (non NHSBSA Copyright) information.

Data and Resources

Additional Info

Field	Value
Source	NHS Business Service Authority (NHSBSA)
Contact	Information Governance
Version	1.0
State	active
Last Updated	July 4, 2025, 11:25 (UTC)
Created	July 3, 2025, 06:51 (UTC)

FOI-02908

Freedom of Information Disclosure Log

License

FOI-02908

Request

Our response

2024/25

Considerations for disclosure:

Considerations against disclosure:

Conclusion:

Controlled Drug Fee Information

Factors in Favour of Disclosure

Factors in Favour of Withholding

Data Queries

Reusing the data and copyright

Data and Resources

Additional Info