Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent progress has been made on ensuring the smooth flow of medical devices in the event that the UK leaves the EU (a) with a deal and (b) without a deal.

If the United Kingdom leaves the European Union with a deal, the current regulatory regimes will continue to apply in relation to product standards, transportation and customs, duties and tariffs, during the implementation period.

The Department is doing everything appropriate to prepare for leaving the EU without a deal. We want to reassure patients that our plans should ensure the uninterrupted supply of medicines and medical products once we have left the EU.

The Department, as part of our EU exit preparations, is implementing a multi-layered approach to mitigate potential disruption to supply, which consists of stockpiling where possible, securing freight capacity, changing or clarifying regulatory requirements, procuring additional warehousing, working closely with industry to improve trader readiness and putting in place the National Supply Disruption Response to manage potential shortages. Further details can be found at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/medicines-and-medical-products-supply-government-updates-no-deal-brexit-plans