Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to issue national guidance to NHS organisations on the procurement and use of licensed and unlicensed products for perioperative skin preparation.

Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Skin antisepsis products approved for use in the United Kingdom by the National Health Service are outlined in the British National Formulary. Guidance on skin antisepsis and surgical site infections is outlined by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. Further joint guidance from the Royal College of Surgeons and Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency covers the importance of using medicinally licensed products for perioperative skin preparation.

Adverse events associated with the use of specific medicines and devices in the UK are monitored and recorded via the yellow card scheme. This scheme would apply in the event of adverse events associated with use of an unlicensed product.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to monitor patient outcomes and adverse events associated with unlicensed perioperative skin preparation products including their potential impact on surgical site infections and wider NHS costs.

Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Skin antisepsis products approved for use in the United Kingdom by the National Health Service are outlined in the British National Formulary. Guidance on skin antisepsis and surgical site infections is outlined by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. Further joint guidance from the Royal College of Surgeons and Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency covers the importance of using medicinally licensed products for perioperative skin preparation.

Adverse events associated with the use of specific medicines and devices in the UK are monitored and recorded via the yellow card scheme. This scheme would apply in the event of adverse events associated with use of an unlicensed product.

Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:

To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the total amount of funding provided across all Government departments for scientific research involving the use of live animals.

Answered by Lord Leong - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade)

His Majesty’s Government has not made an estimate of the total amount of funding provided across all Government departments for scientific research involving the use of live animals. Public funding for research involving animals is provided through a range of organisations and programmes that support broader scientific and medical research objectives. These organisations and programmes have different data collection and reporting systems in place, and therefore this information cannot be consistently identified across Government.

Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:

To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the total amount of funding provided across all Government departments for scientific research involving human-specific research methods and technologies.

Answered by Lord Leong - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade)

His Majesty’s Government has not made an estimate of the total amount of funding provided across all Government departments for scientific research involving human-specific research methods and technologies. UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) invests in a range of research that supports human-specific approaches, including organ-on-a-chip technologies, cell-based assays, functional genomics and computer modelling. These activities are generally categorised within broader research programmes, and funding for human-specific research methods is not separately identified across Government.