Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions he has had with relevant stakeholders on tackling potential shortages of (a) Tegretol and (b) Clobazam.

The Department has well-established procedures to deal with medicine supply issues and works closely with the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency the pharmaceutical industry, NHS England and others within the supply chain to help prevent shortages and to ensure that the risks to patients are minimised when they do arise.

We are not aware of any shortages of tegretol. There is one company reporting limited supplies of clobazam 10 milligram tablets. However, an alternative supplier is available and providing the liquid formulations of varying strengths. Supplying issues are expected to fully resolve at the end of January 2023.