Written question asked by Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour) on Monday, 15 June 2026, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 18 June 2026 (named day). A holding answer was provided on Friday, 19 June 2026. A substantive answer was provided by Preet Kaur Gill (Labour) on Tuesday, 23 June 2026 on behalf of the Department of Health and Social Care.

Stem Cells: Donors

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his department is taking to ensure continuity of haematopoietic stem cell supply for UK patients in the event of a significant disruption to supply.

Answer: The import of stem cells is important for ensuring that patients can be matched to the most suitable donor, but it relies on global supply chains that can be vulnerable to disruption. Anthony Nolan is responsible for importing stem cells to the United Kingdom in response to requests from clinicians where the most suitable matched donor is outside the UK. Business continuity plans are in place in case of disruption to supply. Systems are also in place to support domestic supply, which is less vulnerable to disruption. Through our funding of the Department’s stem cell programme, we have supported recruitment of UK donors to the UK aligned stem cell registry and supported the creation of a cord stem cell bank. The Department is also funding research to improve techniques for cryopreservation of stem cells, which permits long term storage of viable stem cells until a suitable time to transplant them.

Secondary information