Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much his Department has spent on stockpiling (a) Oseltamivir (tamiflu), (b) Zanamivir (Relenza) and (c) other antiviral drugs in each year since 2014.

The following table shows the total spend from 2013/14 to 2020/21 in England for the replenishment of oseltamivir and zanamivir antivirals for the pandemic influenza preparedness stockpile. The United Kingdom’s stockpiles have not included any other antivirals for influenza.

Stockpile volumes of oseltamivir and zanamivir are held to treat 50% of the population, based on a reasonable worst-case scenario. The stockpiles have been maintained since the 2009 swine flu pandemic. Year-to-year variation in stockpile spending is due to variation in cost of replenishing and maintaining the stockpile at these levels. The devolved administrations are responsible for their respective antiviral stockpiles