FOI – 2025-000166 Pharmaceutical Products Supplied By Teva UK (HTML)

Date received – 09 June 2025 | Date responded – 01 July 2025

Request

I am requesting information about the procurement of pharmaceutical products (including all specialist pharmaceutical products, medicines and biosimilars) by National Services Scotland/NHS Scotland, and in particular, products supplied by Teva Pharmaceuticals (Teva UK).

Please send me the following information by email.

• How many pharmaceutical products are currently supplied to NSS by Teva UK?
• How many supply contracts does NSS currently have with Teva UK?
• What is the total value, in the current financial year, of those contracts?
• At what date(s) will the various Teva UK contracts expire?
• Are all NSS supply contracts for pharmaceutical products routinely subject to a due diligence process which includes a human rights assessment, as per Scottish Government Procurement Policy Manual and the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, and an assessment of ethical business practice? If so, what weighting or score is applied to human rights & ethical considerations in comparison to other factors e.g. value for money, product quality, security of supply?
• Within the last 5 years, has Teva UK been excluded from any procurement process, or been considered for exclusion, or had a supply contract terminated prior to the due date? If so, what was/were the reason/s?
• Within the last 5 years, has any pharmaceutical supplier been excluded from the procurement process, or been considered for exclusion, or had a supply contract terminated prior to the due date? If so, what was/were the reason/s?
• Are ongoing pharmaceutical product supply contracts periodically reviewed and, if so, how often?

Response

I refer to your freedom of information request that we received on 09 June 2025 requesting the following information:

I am requesting information about the procurement of pharmaceutical products (including all specialist pharmaceutical products, medicines and biosimilars) by National Services Scotland/NHS Scotland, and in particular, products supplied by Teva Pharmaceuticals (Teva UK).

Please send me the following information by email.

• How many pharmaceutical products are currently supplied to NSS by Teva UK?
• How many supply contracts does NSS currently have with Teva UK?
• What is the total value, in the current financial year, of those contracts?
• At what date(s) will the various Teva UK contracts expire?
• Are all NSS supply contracts for pharmaceutical products routinely subject to a due diligence process which includes a human rights assessment, as per Scottish Government Procurement Policy Manual and the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, and an assessment of ethical business practice? If so, what weighting or score is applied to human rights & ethical considerations in comparison to other factors e.g. value for money, product quality, security of supply?
• Within the last 5 years, has Teva UK been excluded from any procurement process, or been considered for exclusion, or had a supply contract terminated prior to the due date? If so, what was/were the reason/s?
• Within the last 5 years, has any pharmaceutical supplier been excluded from the procurement process, or been considered for exclusion, or had a supply contract terminated prior to the due date? If so, what was/were the reason/s?
• Are ongoing pharmaceutical product supply contracts periodically reviewed and, if so, how often?

We have now completed the search of our records and can provide you with the following information:

• How many pharmaceutical products are currently supplied to NSS by Teva UK?
• How many supply contracts does NSS currently have with Teva UK?
• What is the total value, in the current financial year, of those contracts?
• At what date(s) will the various Teva UK contracts expire?

Under Section 25 of the Freedom of Information Scotland Act 2002 (FOISA), NHS National Services Scotland (NSS) are exempt from supplying the requested information, as this information is already publicly available. All details of National Procurement (NP) awarded frameworks can be found via both Public Contracts Scotland: Home - Public Contracts Scotland and Find a Tender website: Find a Tender. This includes successful supplier(s), dates and term of the framework agreements and the anticipated value of the agreements.

You can search notices by category using the below search criteria:

• 85000000: Health and social work services
• 33000000: Medical equipments, pharmaceuticals and personal care products

Are all NSS supply contracts for pharmaceutical products routinely subject to a due diligence process which includes a human rights assessment, as per Scottish Government Procurement Policy Manual and the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, and an assessment of ethical business practice?If so, what weighting or score is applied to human rights & ethical considerations in comparison to other factors e.g. value for money, product quality, security of supply?

Yes, all NSS supply contracts for pharmaceutical products are routinely subject to a due diligence process that includes consideration of human rights and ethical business practices. This process is consistent with the requirements of the Scottish Government Procurement Policy Handbook and the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.

This includes:

• Pre-procurement risk assessments (using Scottish Government Sustainable Procurement Tools) that consider country of origin, commodity area risks, and supply chain resilience.
• Ethical and human rights selection criteria within the Scottish Procurement Document (SPD) as part of the tender documentation.
• Review of fair working practices, Real Living Wage and Modern Slavery Act 2015 compliance, and Climate Change requirement as part of the tender documentation.
• Use of standard contractual clauses that require compliance with relevant human rights laws and ethical standards.
• Ongoing contractual management to monitor supplier performance, including supply chain management and sustainability compliance.

This aligns NSS with the Sustainably Procurement Duty and promotes Fair Work First principles, in accordance with the Scottish Procurement Policy Handbook. These aspects are not weighted or scored for medicines tenders.

Within the last 5 years, has Teva UK been excluded from any procurement process, or been considered for exclusion, or had a supply contract terminated prior to the due date? If so, what was/were the reason/s?

Within the last 5 years, Teva UK have not been excluded from any procurement process, been considered for exclusion, or had a supply contract terminated prior to the due date.

Within the last 5 years, has any pharmaceutical supplier been excluded from the procurement process, or been considered for exclusion, or had a supply contract terminated prior to the due date? If so, what was/were the reason/s?

Within the last 5 years, no pharmaceutical supplier been excluded from the procurement process, been considered for exclusion, or had a supply contract terminated prior to the due date.

Are ongoing pharmaceutical product supply contracts periodically reviewed and, if so, how often?

A robust supplier management process allows for product supply contracts to be regularly reviewed.

Under Section 15(1) (Duty to provide advice and assistance) of FOISA, please see below additional information with regards to your request:

Procurement Standards: Our procurement practices are governed by public procurement regulations, which require fairness, transparency, and non-discrimination.

Ethical Principles: Our procurement policies are designed to ensure value for money while adhering to high ethical standards. NHS Scotland assesses ethical sourcing risks for all procurement exercises as part of our contracting strategy development to mitigate the risk of modern slavery and ensure ethical labour practices. This process is aligned with the Scottish Government Procurement Journey. 

I trust you will find the information of assistance and if you require any further information, please do not hesitate to contact us.

If you are unhappy with any aspect of how we have dealt with your request, you can make representations to us asking us to review the handling of your request.

If you require any further information, please contact the Associate Director Governance and Board Services (Board Secretary) within 40 working days of the date of this correspondence.

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If after a review you are still unhappy, you also have the right to apply to the Scottish Information Commissioner, who can be contacted at Kinburn Castle, St Andrews, Fife, KY16 9DS, or via their application form.

National Services Scotland (NSS) is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. You can view all FOI responses within our FOI Publications repository.