Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment his Department has made of the potential effect of the relocation of the European Medicines Agency on the future of the Novartis pharmaceutical (a) site and (b) production at that site.

The Government is committed to ensuring a positive outcome for the whole life science sector that enhances competitiveness and builds on the success that we are rightly proud of, as we exit the European Union. Officials across government have been carrying out a programme of sectoral and regulatory analysis to identify the key factors for the life sciences sector that will affect our negotiations with the EU. Ultimately it is for the European Medicines Agency to comment on how it intends to operate from its new location, and what individual companies like Novartis might have to do differently.