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 adequacy of the availability of acupuncture on the NHS in each Clinical Commissioning Groups in England.

No such assessment has been made. It is the responsibility of clinical commissioning groups to make decisions on the commissioning and funding of any health care treatments for National Health Service patients, such as acupuncture, taking account of issues to do with safety, clinical and cost-effectiveness and the availability of suitably qualified or regulated practitioners.