FOI-03906

Request   I am writing to request information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.   Please could you provide the following information in relation to the Pharmacy Access Scheme (PhAS):   The total number of community pharmacies in England eligible to receive PhAS payments from 2022 and each subsequent year up to the most recent year available.   For each year requested, if available, please provide:   A breakdown of eligible pharmacies by region (e.g. NHS region or Integrated Care System).   Any changes to the eligibility criteria or methodology used to determine PhAS qualification.   The NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) received your request on 17 June 2026 .    We have handled your request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA).  Our response   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 NHSBSA.  Advice and assistance   Question 1   The NHSBSA does not hold information on the number of pharmacies that are eligible for the scheme.  However, we do hold information on the number of pharmacy contractors that have received payments for participating in the scheme. This information is available within our Pharmacy Contractors Management Information System (MIS) data, which has been published in response to previous Freedom of Information requests.  FOI-03295 includes Pharmacy Contractors MIS data covering April 2025 to July 2025. This information is available on our Open Data Portal (ODP):    https://opendata.nhsbsa.net/dataset/foi-03295 .   The column ‘PHARMACY_ACCESS_SCHEME_FEE’ shows the number of pharmacy contractors that received a payment under the scheme during each month. The data also includes an ‘ICB’ column, which can be used to identify the relevant Integrated Care Board area.  Information covering other periods has also been published in previous Freedom of Information responses. If you require information for additional months, please contact us and we will direct you to the relevant published data where available.  Question 2   The NHSBSA does not hold the information you requested.  It is possible that NHS England or one or more Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) may hold the information you are seeking.   You can find each ICB at:  https://www.nhs.uk/nhs-services/find-your-local-integrated-care-board/    NHS England can be contacted by telephone on 0300 311 22 33, by email at  [email protected] , or on their website at:  http://www.england.nhs.uk/contact-us/foi/       You can also contact NHS England by mail at:  NHS England  PO Box 16738  Redditch  B97 9PT  Following the announcement regarding the disbanding of NHS England, please be assured they can currently be contacted for information as normal.