Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of (a) appointing a hepatitis B virus (HBV) elimination programme national clinical lead and (b) establishing a national register for monitoring HBV diagnoses and treatment uptake.

Management of care for patients with Hepatitis B (HBV) is the responsibility of integrated care boards. Therefore, NHS England Specialised Commissioning does not have plans to appoint a national clinical lead for Hepatitis B elimination specifically. At a national level, the UK Health Security Agency is prioritising a programme of work to reduce the harmful impact of Hepatitis B to health.

NHS England is identifying opportunities to build on the successful programme to eliminate Hepatitis C. This includes ensuring that the Emergency Department opt-out testing programme includes testing for Hepatitis B, as well as HIV and Hepatitis C.

As England has signed up as a pilot country for the World Health Organisation (WHO) to assess progress to HBV elimination, monitoring of HBV in England aligns to WHO programme targets. These include increasing the proportion of people living with HBV who are diagnosed and aware of their infection, and increasing the proportion of people living with HBV who are receiving treatment.