Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the overall effectiveness of the MHRA in supporting and evaluating clinical trials in the UK; and what assessment he has made of the potential future risks to that effectiveness.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) recently underwent a programme organisational reform and transformation, supported by independent advisors, to deliver an agency able to modernise medicines and medical device regulation in the United Kingdom and take advantage of its new sovereign regulator status. This process and the ongoing implementation of the changes is under constant review by MHRA itself and departmental officials, including any impact on delivery and effectiveness. As part of that and the normal business planning cycles, the two teams will continue to work together to support the Agency to continue to protect the health of the UK population including ensuring the safety of clinical trials.