The Prime Minister has announced £25 million of UK aid backing for a new fund to ensure the world is better prepared to defeat future pandemics.

Hosted by the World Bank, the ‘Financial Intermediary Fund’ for pandemic prevention, preparedness and response will provide funding to countries whose healthcare systems are dangerously unprepared for the challenges caused by large outbreaks of infectious diseases. It will ensure they can quickly respond to, and as far as possible contain, outbreaks before they spread across the world.

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to at least 6.2 million deaths across the world and caused far-reaching economic devastation. Stopping a pandemic like this ever happening again will require a concerted and coordinated international effort.

At the G7 Summit today (Monday), leaders will discuss the importance of helping countries manage Covid as an endemic disease and the pressing need to invest in preparedness and other measures to prevent history repeating itself.

The new fund will help fill some of the financing gaps exposed by COVID-19, particularly insufficient financing for preparedness in national health systems and disease surveillance at country, regional and global levels. Crucially, the fund can help catalyse countries’ own financing, so the world is as equipped as possible whenever and wherever a new public health risk emerges.

The Prime Minister said:

“While the worst days of the coronavirus pandemic are, thankfully, behind us, we cannot be complacent. The next potential pandemic could emerge any moment and with it the devastating human and economic consequences we have experienced over the last two and a half years.

“We must ensure we learn the lessons of COVID-19 and are better prepared next time. We owe it to the people of the world to say, ‘never again’.”

The chance of a pandemic on the scale of COVID-19 occurring in the next 25 years could be as high as 50%, and a key lesson of the coronavirus pandemic is that even small investments in pandemic preparedness can have huge returns. By contributing to preparedness in the short term, we can avoid huge economic damage in the long-term.

Under the UK’s G7 Presidency last year, the Prime Minister drove forward international work on pandemic preparedness under his ‘five point plan’ and the 100 Days Mission, work on which was led by Sir Patrick Vallance. This included launching a worldwide network of zoonotic research hubs, increasing the global manufacturing capacity for treatment and vaccines, designing a new early warning system and agreeing global protocols for a future health emergency.

The UK also hosted a Global Pandemic Preparedness Summit in March, which raised over £1.2 billion to develop variant-proof coronavirus vaccines and speed up the process of developing vaccines against future health threats so this can be done in under 100 days.

David Malpass, President of the World Bank Group, said:

“I welcome the UK’s support for the new Financial Intermediary Fund to strengthen pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response functions in developing countries.

“The fund will provide a dedicated stream of additional, long-term funding to complement the work of existing institutions and operate with high standards of transparency and accountability.

“COVID-19 highlighted the urgent need for coordinated action to build stronger health systems and mobilise additional resources to prepare for the next pandemic in countries, regions, and around the world.”

At the G7 Summit last year, the UK galvanised international action to donate 870 million coronavirus vaccines to those who need them. This commitment, combined with UK and other investments to support the development and rapid manufacturing scale-up of COVID-19 vaccines, turned the tide on Covid around the world. Two-thirds of the global population have received at least one dose of the Covid vaccine.

The supply of coronavirus vaccines now outstrips demand and UK efforts are therefore focused on action to end the acute phase of the pandemic, help countries manage COVID-19 as an endemic disease and prepare for the next health threat.

Governments, NGOs and private donors have been encouraged to donate to the Financial Intermediary Fund, which was called for by G20 Finance Ministers in April.

The funding announced by the Prime Minister today will establish the UK as a founding donor to the fund, alongside the US, EU and others.

New exports of Russian gold will no longer be allowed to be enter the UK, Canada, US and Japan thanks to tough new measures to be announced at the G7 Summit starting  today [Sunday 26th June] designed ratchet up the pressure on Putin’s war machine.

Gold is a major Russian export, worth £12.6 billion to the Russian economy in 2021. Its value to the Russian elite has also increased in recent months with oligarchs rushing to buy gold bullion in an attempt to avoid the financial impact of western sanctions. London is a major global gold trading hub and UK sanctions, which will be the first of their kind to be implemented against Russia anywhere in the world, will have a huge impact on Putin’s ability to raise funds.

Given’s London central role in the international gold trade and parallel US, Japanese and Canadian action, this measure will have global reach, shutting the commodity out of formal international markets. At the G7, the Prime Minister will urge other leaders to join us to further isolate Russia from the international financial system.

UK import restrictions now apply to over £13.5 billion worth of Russian exports. The UK has also sanctioned more than 1,000 individuals and more than 100 entities since Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

The Prime Minister said:

“The measures we have announced today will directly hit Russian oligarchs and strike at the heart of Putin’s war machine.

“Putin is squandering his dwindling resources on this pointless and barbaric war. He is bankrolling his ego at the expense of both the Ukrainian and Russian people.

“We need to starve the Putin regime of its funding. The UK and our allies are doing just that.”

Chancellor Rishi Sunak said:

“With this import ban on new Russian-origin gold, over £13.5bn of our imports from Russia will be covered by restrictions. Given London’s role at the heart of the global gold trade, this shows the UK will take tough steps to stop the Russian war machine.

“I am pleased that following discussions with others in the G7 Finance Track, the US, Canada and Japan will be joining us in imposing this measure, shutting down avenues for Russian gold sales and maximising the impact that we can have on Putin and his cronies.”

The measures announced today build on the action taken by the London Bullion Market on 7th March to suspend six Russian refineries.

The gold import ban, which will come into force shortly, will apply to newly mined or refined gold. It does not impact Russian-origin gold previously exported from Russia. There are no plans to extend restrictions to Russian gold purchased legitimately before the import ban was put in place.

• MHRA to reform medical devices regulation to improve patient health and encourage innovation
• The UK is seizing the opportunities provided by leaving the EU to bring forward new legislation that goes further to improve people’s health
• To signify products have met these world-leading standards, they will carry the UKCA marking

New plans to strengthen the regulation of medical devices to improve patient safety and encourage innovation have been published.

Following the UK’s exit from the European Union (EU), the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has a unique opportunity to improve how medical devices and in vitro diagnostic medical devices (IVDs) are regulated in the UK.

The package of reforms will apply to medical devices such as hearing aids, x-ray machines and insulin pumps; new technologies such as smartphone apps and Artificial Intelligence (AI); as well as certain cosmetic products like dermal fillers.

The new measures include:

• Strengthening the MHRA’s powers to act to keep patients safe – Giving the public and patients greater assurance on both the performance and safety of the highest-risk medical devices, such as those which need to be implanted.
• Increasing the scope and extent of regulation to respond to public need – Enhancing systems that are already in place to better protect users of medical devices and certain cosmetic products, and providing greater assurance of their performance and safety.
• Addressing health disparities and mitigating identified inequities throughout medical devices development and use – Mitigating against inequities in medical devices, ensuring they function as intended for diverse populations. The government has launched a review into the potential equity issues in the design and use of medical devices to tackle health inequalities and will update in due course.
• Making the UK a focus for innovation, and the best place to develop and introduce innovative medical devices – Ensuring the new regulatory framework encourages responsible innovation so that patients in the UK are better able to access the most advanced medical devices to meet their needs.
• Setting world-leading standards and building the new UKCA mark – Transforming a new stamp of certification, replacing the CE mark, into a trusted brand that signifies global safety, health and environment protection standards have been met for medical device products. This will in turn boost the MHRA’s global reputation and growing partnerships with other regulators

Health and Social Care Secretary Sajid Javid says:

Now we have left the EU, these new changes will allow innovation to thrive and ensure UK patients are among the first to benefit from technological breakthroughs.

We are now able to introduce some of the most robust safety measures in the world for medical devices to ensure patients are protected.

Dr June Raine, Chief Executive of the MHRA, says:

As a regulator, our priority is to protect patients and the public and make it easier and quicker for patients to access the medical devices and treatments they need.

We would like to thank everyone who has shared their views as part of this consultation, including patients, industry and the healthcare sector.

We all know the importance of medical devices in our day to day lives and your input has been invaluable in helping us to shape the future regulations and ensuring continued patient safety and access.

The regulations will keep pace with new and emerging technologies, for example software and artificial intelligence (AI) which are increasingly being used in areas such as screening and diagnosis, as well as the management of chronic conditions and developing new treatments. The new measures will ensure innovations such as these are subjected to the same robust standards as medical devices, protecting patient safety while encouraging innovation to ensure UK patients are among the first to access cutting-edge healthcare.

Today’s announcement follows a consultation on the future regulation of medical devices in which the MHRA asked for views on a broad range of regulatory issues – from requirements for running clinical investigations, to how devices are assessed before being placed on the market, through to importer and distributor obligations, and post-market safety monitoring to increase transparency and the role of patients.

This is an ambitious, transformational programme of reform and the MHRA will ensure that legislative changes to the system meet the needs of industry and the healthcare sector.

There will be continued work and engagement with industry and stakeholders whilst refining legislation and implementing changes.

The MHRA will gradually phase in the new requirements with transitional arrangements, to give industry enough time to adapt to the change.

Notes to editors

1. Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is responsible for regulating all medicines and medical devices in the UK by ensuring they work and are acceptably safe. All our work is underpinned by robust and fact-based judgements to ensure that the benefits justify any risks.
2. The MHRA is an executive agency of the Department of Health and Social Care.
3. The government has introduced a Bill to make changes to the Protocol to establish a dual-regulatory regime in Northern Ireland. Once the Bill becomes law, this would mean that businesses could choose between meeting UK or EU standards – removing the barriers to goods made to UK standards from being sold in Northern Ireland and cutting the processes that drive up costs and disincentives businesses.
4. Under the current approach to the Northern Ireland Protocol, EU rules on medical devices and IVDs continue to apply in Northern Ireland. The EU Medical Devices Regulation (2017/745) (EU MDR) therefore took effect in Northern Ireland on 26 May 2021 and the in vitro Diagnostic Medical Devices Regulation (2017/746) (EU IVDR) took effect from 26 May 2022. The EU MDR and EU IVDR do not apply in Great Britain.
5. For further information on the government’s review into potential bias in medical devices, visit: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/review-launched-into-the-health-impact-of-potential-bias-in-medical-devices