Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether her Department has made an assessment of the resilience of the pharmaceutical-grade fill/finish sector.

The Department’s life sciences team is responsible for is attracting investment and enabling exports. The last assessment of UK fill/finish capacity was carried out in mid-2021 by the Vaccines Taskforce. The Department for Business and Trade in collaboration with the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, is currently undertaking a voluntary manufacturing survey of the pharmaceutical industry in the UK.

The Department is also working closely with the DSIT/DHSC on the Biomanufacturing Fund, which will provide up to £38m in capital grants to incentivise investment in the manufacture of vaccines and biotherapeutics, which could include fill/finish providers.