Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has to engage with (a) representatives of people affected by thalidomide and (b) other stakeholders as part of his Department's consultation on Distributing vaccines and treatments for covid-19 and flu, announced on 28 August 2020.

The Department’s public consultation from 28 August to 18 September proposed changes to the Human Medicine Regulations and welcomed views from a wide variety of stakeholders. The response to consultation, which has now closed, will be issued in due course.

As part of the consultation process, the Department, in collaboration with the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, held a number of meetings with health and social care professional bodies and pharmaceutical industry representatives. The Department invited views from a wide range of organisations, including patient groups, to respond to the consultation.