Asked by: Lord Pickles (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have plans to establish a taskforce to oversee the implementation of Exercise Pegasus findings.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government has committed to communicating the findings and lessons of the exercise as recommended by the COVID-19 Inquiry, and a post-exercise report will be delivered in due course. The evaluation of Exercise PEGASUS is ongoing and once complete, recommendations will be generated. The implementation and appropriate governance of these recommendations and findings is being actively considered as part of the United Kingdom’s commitment to pandemic preparedness. Exercise PEGASUS has provided valuable experience which is being used to inform the pandemic preparedness strategy and response plans.
Asked by: Lord Pickles (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with pharmaceutical providers as part of Exercise Pegasus about procurement of testing for immunocompromised patients.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Exercise PEGASUS, the largest simulation of a pandemic in the United Kingdom’s history, involved thousands of participants across different parts of the exercise. Multiple other non-Governmental organisations representing the breadth of society were engaged and will continue to be in advance of phase four of the exercise in 2026. This includes engagement with partners in the pharmaceutical sector and focus groups on clinically vulnerable patient populations. These groups have included the views of mental health organisations and organisations advocating for immunosuppressed individuals.
Asked by: Lord Pickles (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with mental health bodies as part of Exercise Pegasus about impact on immunocompromised patients.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Exercise PEGASUS, the largest simulation of a pandemic in the United Kingdom’s history, involved thousands of participants across different parts of the exercise. Multiple other non-Governmental organisations representing the breadth of society were engaged and will continue to be in advance of phase four of the exercise in 2026. This includes engagement with partners in the pharmaceutical sector and focus groups on clinically vulnerable patient populations. These groups have included the views of mental health organisations and organisations advocating for immunosuppressed individuals.
Asked by: Lord Pickles (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans are in place to monitor progress towards the recommendations arising from Exercise Pegasus.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government has committed to communicating the findings and lessons of the exercise as recommended by the COVID-19 Inquiry, and a post-exercise report will be delivered in due course. The evaluation of Exercise PEGASUS is ongoing and once complete, recommendations will be generated. The implementation and appropriate governance of these recommendations and findings is being actively considered as part of the United Kingdom’s commitment to pandemic preparedness. Exercise PEGASUS has provided valuable experience which is being used to inform the pandemic preparedness strategy and response plans.
Asked by: Lord Pickles (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will assess the additional costs to the NHS if Israeli-owned or Israeli-based companies were banned from supplying generic medicines to the NHS.
Answered by David Mowat
We do not routinely collect information on where pharmaceutical manufacturers are based, or whether they have connections with particular countries. Any company with the necessary regulatory authorisations can supply medicines to the National Health Service. However, some 100 million prescription items for medicines used in the community in England are estimated to come from companies based in Israel. This includes some medicines where one of these companies will be the main supplier. Banning these supplies would most likely cause significant shortages of some medicines important for patient health and have a significant impact on competition and in all likelihood increase prices paid by the NHS.
Asked by: Lord Pickles (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will make an estimate of the annual (a) volume and (b) value of medicines supplied by Israeli-owned or Israeli-based companies to the NHS.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
This information is not collected centrally.
Asked by: Lord Pickles (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to ensure that every pregnant women prescribed the anti-epilepsy drug sodium valproate is warned of the risk to her unborn child.
Answered by George Freeman
After completion of a United Kingdom-led European review in 2014, the Department worked with the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, healthcare professionals and patient groups to raise awareness and encourage discussion about the risks and benefits of sodium valproate between healthcare professionals and their patients.
Several measures were put in place to minimise the prescribing of sodium valproate to women of childbearing potential (except where other drugs are ineffective or not tolerated) and to communicate the warnings around the drug sodium valproate to healthcare professionals and patients (particularly women of child bearing potential).
There is now a mandatory requirement for all manufacturers to include the very latest information about the known risks of sodium valproate to the unborn child. The product information for healthcare professionals and patients has been updated to contain strengthened warnings about use in pregnancy and in women of child bearing age. New educational materials have been produced for use by healthcare professionals and patients that further highlight warnings of the risk of sodium valproate to the unborn child. Other actions include:
- working with the Health and Social Care Information Centre on introducing red-flag warnings on general practitioner and community pharmacy IT systems;
- updating the British National Formulary (BNF) and BNF for children; and
- using existing Departmental and National Health Service communication channels to raise awareness and provide information to patients.