Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent assessment he has made of the impact of changes to the Voluntary Scheme for Branded Medicines Pricing Access (VPAS) rebate on (a) foreign direct investment into UK R&D and (b) employment levels and footprint of the UK life sciences industry.

The Government is working to better understand the impacts the operation of the current Voluntary Scheme on investments and the footprint of the UK life sciences industry. We are therefore in direct conversations with companies to understand these impacts. The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy is in close discussions with the Department of Health and Social Care, the Department responsible for the Voluntary Scheme, about the business environment for life sciences and its impact on investment.