Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, through which consultation process or processes, have (a) relevant stakeholders and (b) members of the public been given the opportunity to contribute to the UK’s position on the World Health Organization’s new international agreement on pandemic preparedness and response; and if he will publish a list of participants.

The United Kingdom is engaging with a range of stakeholders on the instrument, through roundtables with civil society and discussion with relevant groups. Non-state actors had the opportunity to present views on the working draft of the instrument at recent meetings of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body, the Member State-led process for drafting and negotiating the pandemic instrument. The World Health Organization (WHO) is holding public hearings seeking input from interested parties, including the public. We will continue engaging relevant stakeholders as it progresses.