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 proposed insurance-based reimbursement funding models, including cap and collar models, on the UK's ability to appropriately reward innovation whilst also tackling antimicrobial resistance.

The Department is in discussions with the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry regarding possible future approaches to the pricing and reimbursement of new antimicrobial products, including insurance-based reimbursement arrangements such as ‘cap and collar’ models.

These discussions are not yet at a point where an assessment of their effect can be made. However there is potential for such models to reconcile the current contradiction between conservation goals and industry revenue, facilitating appropriate stewardship of antibiotics.