Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent representations his Department has received from (a) MedTech Directorate and (b) the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency on the (i) import of (A) urine drainage bags and (B) other medical devices, (ii) security of supply of those devices and (iii) cost to the NHS of imposing six per cent import tariffs on those devices.

The Secretary of State has received no representations on these matters from the Medical Technologies Directorate or the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency.

With regards to import tariffs specifically, the Government implemented temporary tariff suspensions on a set of goods in 2021, including urine drainage bags, to support the healthcare response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Government has extended the majority of these suspensions until 31 December 2023.

Departmental officials are aware of plans to remove temporary tariff suspensions and are considering information provided by industry alongside wider United Kingdom government analysis.