Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what guidance his Department issues on whether local authorities or clinical commissioning groups should fund the cost of the drug Nalmefene.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published technology appraisal guidance on 26 November which recommends nalmefene (Selincro) as a possible treatment for people with alcohol dependence, subject to certain criteria.

NHS commissioners and local authorities, with respect to their public health functions, are legally required to make funding available for treatments recommended by NICE technology appraisal guidance, within three months of NICE’s final guidance.