Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of implementing a national eye health strategy for England.

We recognise the challenges facing eye care services. In response, the Department and NHS England are already taking a strategic approach. Through the transformation programme, NHS England is considering how eye care services could be commissioned to ensure future sustainability. NHS England has appointed Louisa Wickham as a national clinical director for eyecare to oversee the recovery of eye care services and longer-term transformation. This sits alongside action already being taken to improve the prevention, detection and treatment of sight-threatening conditions.