Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the number of generic medications whose costs have increased due to shortages caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Government has made no such assessment.

We do, however, continuously monitor overall movements in changes in the prices of medicines through various methods, including data from suppliers using the provisions in the Health Service Products (Provision and Disclosure of Information) Regulations 2018. It is too early to assess the increased cost to the National Health Service in light of COVID-19.

For unbranded generic medicines the Department relies on competition to keep prices down. This has led to some of the lowest prices in Europe and allows prices to react to the market. In an international market this ensures that when demand is high and supply is low, prices in the United Kingdom can increase to help secure the availability of medicines for UK patients.