Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the National Audit Office's report, Exiting the EU: supplying the health and social care sectors, published on 27 September 2019, what assessment he has made of the effect on medical supplies in the event that government freight capacity is not adequate by 30 November 2019.

On 27 September the National Audit Office published a report on the readiness of the Department’s preparations for the post-European Union exit supply of medicines and medical products. We want to reassure patients we are doing everything we can to help make sure they can access the medicines they need after EU exit, whatever the circumstances.

We continue to implement a multi-layered approach to minimize any supply disruption on medicines and medical supplies, should the United Kingdom leave the EU without a deal. These plans include:

- Procuring additional capacity on alternative routes (away from the short straits) for goods to continue to come into the UK ahead EU exit;

- buffer stocks and stockpiling (where this is practical) or asking industry or the NHS Supply Chain to build up buffer stocks in the UK ahead of EU exit;

- Arrangements to deal with shortages in addition to normal shortage management routes, enabling ministers to issue serious shortage protocols to pharmacists;

- additional warehouse space for stockpiled medicines, including ambient, refrigerated and controlled drug storage;

- working with industry to improve trader readiness in preparation for the new customs procedures that will come into force on day 1 if we leave the EU without a deal; and

- changing or clarifying regulatory requirements so that companies can continue to sell their products in the UK if the UK leaves without a deal.

The Department has implemented a multi-layered approach to mitigate potential disruption to supply. No one measure is relied on at any point in time in order to support uninterrupted supply of medicines and medical products.