Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what stocks of (a) midazolam, (b) morphine and (c) fentanyl are held in (i) the essential medicines buffer stock and (ii) the UK stockpile of medicines for covid-19 preparedness.

The essential medicines buffer stock program is no longer active and there are no stocks held under this. Some medicines that were previously held for COVID-19 preparedness, including midazolam 50 milligram/10 millilitre ampoules, are in the process of being transitioned into centralised stockholdings of countermeasures for broader emerging infectious disease and pandemic preparedness. Stocks of morphine 10 milligram/millilitre and 10 milligram/2 millilitre and fentanyl 500 microgram/10 millilitre remain, but will not be retained centrally. The countermeasures programme is informed by scientific and clinical assessment of the evidence base and is kept under review, building on lessons learned from COVID-19 and other outbreaks.