Asked by: Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the number of people presenting at NHS services because they are unable to purchase general sales list medicines for (a) themselves and (b) their children in the event that the UK leaves the EU without a deal; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Stephen Hammond
On 23 August 2018 the Department wrote to all pharmaceutical companies that supply the United Kingdom with pharmacy (P) or prescription-only medicines (POM) from, or via, the European Union/European Economic Area (EEA), asking them to ensure they have a minimum of six weeks’ additional supply in the UK, over and above their business as usual operational buffer stocks, by 29 March 2019 in the event of a no deal EU Exit.
Over-the-counter ‘General Sales List’ (GSL) medicines are not included in the Department’s medicines supply contingency programme. GSLs are not considered in-scope for the programme as there are multiple alternatives available should a single GSL medicine be subject to a short-term supply disruption.
The Department is currently considering how best it may support pharmaceutical companies as part of its medicine supply contingency programme. Part of this support will include funding to provide additional capacity for the storage of P and POM medicines in the UK. A process to apply for such funding has been undertaken in recent weeks and contract agreements are imminent.
Asked by: Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to offer financial support to manufacturers of general sales list medicines for the stockpiling of medicines in preparation for the UK leaving the EU without a deal.
Answered by Stephen Hammond
On 23 August 2018 the Department wrote to all pharmaceutical companies that supply the United Kingdom with pharmacy (P) or prescription-only medicines (POM) from, or via, the European Union/European Economic Area (EEA), asking them to ensure they have a minimum of six weeks’ additional supply in the UK, over and above their business as usual operational buffer stocks, by 29 March 2019 in the event of a no deal EU Exit.
Over-the-counter ‘General Sales List’ (GSL) medicines are not included in the Department’s medicines supply contingency programme. GSLs are not considered in-scope for the programme as there are multiple alternatives available should a single GSL medicine be subject to a short-term supply disruption.
The Department is currently considering how best it may support pharmaceutical companies as part of its medicine supply contingency programme. Part of this support will include funding to provide additional capacity for the storage of P and POM medicines in the UK. A process to apply for such funding has been undertaken in recent weeks and contract agreements are imminent.
Asked by: Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what advice he has issued to manufacturers of general sales list medicines on whether to stockpile medicines in preparation for the UK leaving the EU without a deal; whether he plans to update that advice before the end of 2018; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Stephen Hammond
On 23 August 2018 the Department wrote to all pharmaceutical companies that supply the United Kingdom with pharmacy (P) or prescription-only medicines (POM) from, or via, the European Union/European Economic Area (EEA), asking them to ensure they have a minimum of six weeks’ additional supply in the UK, over and above their business as usual operational buffer stocks, by 29 March 2019 in the event of a no deal EU Exit.
Over-the-counter ‘General Sales List’ (GSL) medicines are not included in the Department’s medicines supply contingency programme. GSLs are not considered in-scope for the programme as there are multiple alternatives available should a single GSL medicine be subject to a short-term supply disruption.
The Department is currently considering how best it may support pharmaceutical companies as part of its medicine supply contingency programme. Part of this support will include funding to provide additional capacity for the storage of P and POM medicines in the UK. A process to apply for such funding has been undertaken in recent weeks and contract agreements are imminent.
Asked by: Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union :
To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, how many official visits he has made to the Port of Dover since July 2018.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
The former Secretary of State did not visit the Port of Dover. Ministers in the Department for Exiting the EU with responsibility for ports visited the Port of Dover twice this year. Former Minister Suella Braverman on the 14th May and Chris Heaton-Harris on the 24th August.
DExEU ministers have visited 19 ports to date as part of a wider programme of engagement carried out by other Government ministers and officials to ports around the United Kingdom. Ministers from across Government have also carried out extensive engagement on EU exit with businesses and industry bodies from all sectors of the economy, including ports and the maritime industry, and will continue to do so.
Asked by: Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment he has made of whether the Government's plans for a skills-based immigration system after the UK leaves the EU will meet the skills requirements of the agri-food sector.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
The Government will publish a White Paper setting out its plans for the future immigration system later this autumn. We have always been clear that we want decisions about the future immigration system to be based on evidence and we will carefully consider the Migration Advisory Committee’s recommendations in its recent report before setting out our plans.
The Government announced on 6 September its plans to introduce a pilot scheme for the admission of 2,500 workers from outside the EU to help meet seasonal labour needs in the agricultural sector.
Asked by: Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment he has made of whether the Government's plans for a skills-based immigration system after the UK leaves the EU will meet the skills requirements of the agri-food sector.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
The Government will publish a White Paper setting out its plans for the future immigration system later this autumn. We have always been clear that we want decisions about the future immigration system to be based on evidence and we will carefully consider the Migration Advisory Committee’s recommendations in its recent report before setting out our plans.
The Government announced on 6 September its plans to introduce a pilot scheme for the admission of 2,500 workers from outside the EU to help meet seasonal labour needs in the agricultural sector.
Asked by: Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has the capability to monitor the stockpiling of medicines by industry after the UK leaves the EU, and what powers his Department has to compel suppliers to stockpile those medicines.
Answered by Steve Barclay - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
On 23 August 2018, the Department wrote to a number of pharmaceutical companies that supply the United Kingdom with medicines from, or via, the European Union/European Economic Area, asking them to ensure they have a minimum of six weeks’ additional supply in the United Kingdom, over and above their business as usual operational buffer stocks, by 29 March 2019. Companies are best placed to decide on the timing for complying with the stockpiling request.
Since writing to pharmaceutical companies, we have received good engagement from the industry who share our aims of ensuring patients maintain continuity of medicines supply. The Department continues to work closely with these companies to ensure that their UK stockpiles of medicines are sufficient to cope with any potential delays at the border that may arise in the short term from the unlikely event of a no-deal Brexit.
Asked by: Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 10 September 2018 to Question 170318 on Drugs, what the timeframe is for industry to start its stockpiling of medicines.
Answered by Steve Barclay - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
On 23 August 2018, the Department wrote to a number of pharmaceutical companies that supply the United Kingdom with medicines from, or via, the European Union/European Economic Area, asking them to ensure they have a minimum of six weeks’ additional supply in the United Kingdom, over and above their business as usual operational buffer stocks, by 29 March 2019. Companies are best placed to decide on the timing for complying with the stockpiling request.
Since writing to pharmaceutical companies, we have received good engagement from the industry who share our aims of ensuring patients maintain continuity of medicines supply. The Department continues to work closely with these companies to ensure that their UK stockpiles of medicines are sufficient to cope with any potential delays at the border that may arise in the short term from the unlikely event of a no-deal Brexit.
Asked by: Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 10 September 2018 to Question 170317, on Drugs, what estimate he has made of the number of weeks delay for medicines there will be at the UK border in the event that the UK leaves the EU without a deal; and whether that estimate has been revised since his letter of 23 August 2018 to the pharmaceutical industry.
Answered by Steve Barclay - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Our request to suppliers is for them to store an additional six weeks’ stock. This will be on top of their business as usual contingency stockpiles. Six weeks is the current cross-Government planning assumption but will of course be subject to revision in light of future developments.
Asked by: Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many (a) licensed and (b) unlicensed medicines are imported to the UK from (a) other (i) EU and (ii) EEA countries and (b) other countries.
Answered by Steve Barclay - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
There is no central, up-to-date database accessible to the public containing this supply chain information. This is commercial information and held by individual marketing authorisation holders. We are currently working closely with those companies to understand more about their supply routes to the United Kingdom.