Speeches by Dalton.

“I don’t have any details at the moment. There is a whole host of stuff that is being looked at. I don’t know if Anna can give a bit more detail. Obviously the WHO will be exploring a different range of things that will be different for different countries.”

“I think it depends on what assistance we are looking at. Where we have the outbreaks, we will be responding to that. I do not know if you have any more detail on how we plan to take that forward.”

“We continue to work closely with the World Health Organisation and it is going through a significant process of reform, which you will be aware about. I have met several times with Tedros to discuss the reforms that they are putting in place. I have also met with Hans Kluge, the director of the European element of the …”

“Absolutely, and so that we are not recruiting from countries that have a shortage of healthcare workers themselves, and I think that is really important. You will see that the Secretary of State has made some statements around that most recently.”

“Absolutely.”

“Yes, I cannot clarify exactly but that is over the Parliament, is my understanding. The support for the public health rapid support team continues, and that has been prioritised. I think it is important to say that obviously decisions are having to be made about the spending review, but what we have done is prioritise …”

“That is I think over—I am looking at you for the detail.”

“Absolutely. It is important to note that in the autumn Budget last year the Government announced funding for pandemic preparedness to the tune of £460 million.[1] That is an investment in strengthening the UK’s pandemic preparedness.”

“The AMR work sits alongside a much wider approach to pandemic preparedness. We have absolutely no idea where the next pandemic will come from and it might very well start in the UK. We cannot say that is not the case. We don’t know what it will look like. Chances are it won’t look like covid did and we will have an awf…”

“The Department of Health and Social Care is looking at how we streamline AMR into tailored country pandemic responses so that it becomes something that countries across the globe are doing, not something that is sitting outside of that. We have a wide network of partners and we are maximising the opportunities for sust…”

“What I am saying is that we are all working in a difficult financial situation and some choices have had to be made. What I am saying is that from the work that we have done with the Fleming Fund, there is an awful lot that we can take forward from what we have learned without actually continuing with the actual fund i…”

“We have done an awful lot of work with the Fleming Fund, as you will be aware. Dame Sally has led some amazing work on that. I co-chaired a breakfast on AMR specifically at the World Health Assembly earlier this year to share some of the expertise and work again with our global counterparts. What we have learned from t…”

“As Anna pointed out, part of the Fleming Fund was about creating databases so that we can monitor, and those databases are being created. What is really important is that we are moving towards mainstreaming this activity in other countries, pandemic preparedness. Rather than saying that the UK will pay for this across …”

“It is fair to say we do not have any actual modelling at the moment on how the USAID cuts will impact HIV or TB or malaria, and it is a bit difficult to do that at this stage. Having said that, we are continuing to monitor it. The UK Health Security Agency is providing expert scientific and public health advice, suppor…”

“That is absolutely right. I think that is also where one of our opportunities is. A key expertise that we built here in the UK during covid was the creation of the UK Health Security Agency, which has fast become a renowned force globally for technical expertise. We have seen with the US pulling out of various fora acr…”

“I agree with all of that. Pandemic preparedness, vaccinations, and we have done an awful lot of work on antimicrobial resistance and are an awful lot further along on that than we were a few years ago. Ensuring that the United Kingdom is prepared for a future pandemic is a real top priority for the Government and we ar…”

“I don’t know if we have any specific timescales.”

“I am Ashley Dalton. I am the Minister for Public Health and Prevention and global and international health comes under my brief.”

“The pandemic agreement was agreed at the World Health Assembly and I was there representing the UK on that. It was a very significant moment and we had spent a good three-plus years working on that. The agreement will not open for signature and ratification until follow-up negotiations on the annexe to the agreement, w…”

“I don’t have any details at the moment. There is a whole host of stuff that is being looked at. I don’t know if Anna can give a bit more detail. Obviously the WHO will be exploring a different range of things that will be different for different countries.”