Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what are the (1) resources, and (2) capacity, of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Association (MHRA); and whether they have made an assessment of the current capacity of the MHRA to keep pace with the expected launches of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) approved medicines to the UK market.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), an executive agency of the Department, regulates medicines, medical devices and blood components for transfusion in the United Kingdom. MHRA employs over 1380 staff and for 2021/22, its total resources were £167 million, funded mostly by income from fees and charges for both statutory and non-statutory sales of products and services. The fees that MHRA charges for its services reflect the cost of providing that service and these are set in legislation, following public consultation and Parliamentary scrutiny.

MHRA and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) work closely together to ensure that there is a joined-up, and timely approach to supporting access for National Health Service patients to new medicines. NICE aims wherever possible to publish final guidance on new medicines within 90 days of MHRA granting a marketing authorisation.