Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what contingency plans he has to maintain pharmaceutical cold chain logistics in instances of loss of load events that exceed 12 hours.

The Department works across the health and care landscape to monitor, manage, and where possible, mitigate risks to medical supply chains.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has engaged with industry on disaster recovery plans in the event of disruption to energy supplies, including the impact on cold chain, and is confident that full line wholesalers have the necessary resilience to weather short to medium term failures of energy infrastructure and to ensure the continued integrity of medicines across all temperature limits.

Under the MHRA’s Rules and Guidance for Pharmaceutical Wholesalers, wholesalers are expected to have a full, demonstrable understanding of their equipment, its limitations, and its ability to operate in extreme conditions.