Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking with the Minister for the Cabinet Office to help tackle the harm caused by sodium valproate to (a) women with epilepsy and (b) their families.

Everyone who has been harmed from sodium valproate has our deepest sympathies.

Action has been taken to minimise the risk associated with valproate to women with epilepsy, and their families. This includes the valproate Pregnancy Prevention Programme, which ensures that women and girls taking valproate understand the potential risks should they become pregnant, are using effective contraception, and are regularly monitored. Further measures introduced in 2024 mean valproate must not be started in new patients, either male or female, younger than 55 years old, unless two specialists independently consider and document that there is no other effective or tolerated treatment, or there are compelling reasons that the reproductive risks do not apply.

The Government is also carefully considering the Patient Safety Commissioner’s recommendations made in The Hughes Report, which includes proposed approaches to redress for those harmed by sodium valproate. This work requires coordinated input from several departments, and we will provide a further update in due course.