Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to maintain and improve specialist services for children suffering from brittle bone disease.

The nature of brittle bone disease requires care across the healthcare system, the majority being provided in the community by a variety of therapists with involvement from a wide multi-disciplinary team. The provision of services for children with brittle bone disease in Northern Ireland will be a matter for the Northern Ireland Executive and the health service in Northern Ireland.

In England, in the majority of cases the local clinical commissioning group (CCG) will decide on the level of provision of services, taking into account the needs of the population it serves. The CCG's decisions are underpinned by clinical insight and knowledge of local healthcare needs.

Complex childhood brittle bone services in England are commissioned by NHS England which has developed a specification for these services. This can be found at:

www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/e13-child-osteo-imperfecta.pdf