Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what interim targets they have set to meet the commitment in the Life Sciences Sector Plan for the UK to become one of the three fastest countries in Europe for patient access to medicines by 2030.

The Life Sciences Sector Plan includes a broad range of commitments to support our ambitions to be one of the top three fastest places in Europe for patient access to medicines by 2030. This includes improving capacity and efficiency in delivering commercial clinical trials, investing in innovation, and supporting access and uptake across the system.

The target itself will be measured by the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations Waiting to Access Innovative Therapies indicator. The latest data shows that the median time between regulatory approval and patient availability for medicines launched between 2020 and 2023 was 310 days for England and 303 days for Scotland, compared to a European Union median of 518 days.