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 impact of the cost of shipping and air freight following the conflict in the Middle East on the supply of generic medicines to the UK; and what steps he is taking to mitigate that impact.

We continue to monitor the impact of the Middle East conflict on the medical supply chain, including on generic medicines. While we understand that transport costs have risen, there are currently no reported shortages of medicines due to the conflict.

If shortages do occur, we have a range of well-established processes and tools to mitigate risks to patients. These include close and regular engagement with suppliers, use of alternative strengths or forms of a medicine to allow patients to remain on the same product, expediting regulatory procedures, sourcing unlicensed imports from abroad, adding products to the restricted exports and hoarding list, use of Serious Shortage Protocols, and issuing National Health Service communications to provide management advice and information on the issue to healthcare professionals including pharmacists, so they can advise and support their patients.