Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the 27.5 per cent proposed increase to the statutory scheme payment included in the Proposed update to the 2023 statutory scheme to control the costs of branded health service medicines, published on 16 December 2022; and whether this increase is part of their commitment to their Life Sciences Vision.

The Government remains firmly committed to the statutory and voluntary schemes for branded medicines and to working with the pharmaceutical industry to deliver on the ambitions set out in the Life Sciences Vision to create an environment that facilitates innovation for the development of medicines in the United Kingdom.

The Department is consulting on a proposed update to the statutory scheme payment percentage for 2023. The proposed increase to the payment percentage of 27.5% will ensure continued broad commercial equivalence between the Statutory Scheme and the Voluntary Scheme for Branded Medicines Pricing and Access. We published an impact assessment of this policy titled Autumn 2022 update to the Statutory Scheme controlling the costs of branded health service medicines. A copy of the impact assessment is attached.