Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of a public inquiry into the safety of PIP breast implants.

There are no current plans to commission a public inquiry into the safety of PIP breast implants. Since these implants were withdrawn in 2010, there have been two independent reviews in 2012 and 2013. Subsequently, the Breast and Cosmetic Implant Registry has collected and published data on all types of breast implant and removal surgery in the United Kingdom since 2016.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is implementing a future regulatory regime to enhance its monitoring of devices and enable earlier identification of safety issues. In addition, it will ensure medical devices receive improved risk-proportionate scrutiny before reaching the market. Through the introduction of Unique Device Identifier requirements, the MHRA will improve the traceability of devices and the patients who receive them. The Medicines and Medical Devices Act 2021 introduced greater transparency on safety issues with devices, such as breast implants.