Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of application processing delays by the Advisory Committee on Borderline Substances on (a) patient choice for malnutrition products and (b) additional costs to the NHS.

The Department has made no assessment of the potential impact of application processing delays by the Advisory Committee on Borderline Substances (ACBS) on patient choice for malnutrition products and additional costs to the National Health Service.

Some ACBS functions were put on hold from 2 April 2020 to 1 August 2020 owing to the COVID-19 pandemic. During that period, the Committee continued work on all applications that were already being reviewed but did not accept new applications. Applications submitted but not being reviewed before the period were reviewed upon the service resuming.

Borderline substances indicated for the management of malnutrition and approved by the ACBS are listed in Part XV of the Drug Tariff, in which there are currently 209 products listed for the management of malnutrition.