NHS: Drugs
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has held recent discussions with colleagues in the Treasury on the pause in applying VAT to compassionate medicines programmes.
Answered by Preet Kaur Gill
The Department is working closely with HM Treasury and HM Revenue and Customs to explore options in relation to the VAT treatment of medicines supplied free of charge to the National Health Service, including those provided through compassionate use and expanded access programmes. We will carefully consider the legal, fiscal and operational implications of any potential changes, and will continue to engage constructively with industry, the National Health Service and all our partners to understand the impact on patient access.
The Department has not made a formal estimate of the number of compassionate or expanded access schemes affected by VAT-related costs.
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