Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 19 June 2023 to Question 188964, what his timeframe is for the piece of work with the profession and NHS England; whether the work includes (a) aims and (b) targets for increasing the availability of minor eye care services.

We are currently at the scoping stage of the development of standard service specifications for enhanced services and have not yet set out a firm timetable for their completion. The aim of this work is to collate best practice to support commissioning by integrated care boards (ICBs), should they identify a need for such services in their areas and wish to commission them from primary eyecare providers.

ICBs remain responsible for eyecare service design and commissioning in their area.