Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what information on the costs of goods he will require of manufacturers of special medicinal products under the Health Service Medical Supplies (Costs) Act 2017 and subsequent regulations; and if he will bring forward further regulatory proposals to control the costs of those products.

Under the Health Service Products (Provision and Disclosure of Information) Regulations 2018, manufacturers, importers and wholesalers of special medicinal products are required to provide the Department, every quarter, with purchase and/or sales information about products already listed with a price in the Drug Tariff and products that are being considered for listing with a price in the Drug Tariff. This information will be used to inform the reimbursement prices for special medicinal products. In addition, under the same Regulations, the Department can request ad-hoc information about sales and purchases as well as costs about any special medicinal products.

The Health Service Medical Supplies (Costs) Act 2017 enables the Government to reimburse for specials dispensed in primary care in different ways such as considering quotes of suppliers and not reimbursing pharmacies at all if, for example, they have been provided the medicine by a central service. We are developing proposals, which will be subject to consultation with relevant stakeholders.