Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent assessment he has made of the need for a proposed hepatitis C improvement framework; and if he will make a statement.

NHS England has already published its planning approach to implement National Institute for Health and Care Excellence recommended treatment during 2016/17. It has committed to producing a further operational framework for hepatitis C during 2016/17. Since making this commitment, NHS England’s approach is currently subject to legal proceedings which means that NHS England is keeping the timing of the publication of the Operational Framework under review.

In the meantime, NHS England continues to support the development of Operational Delivery Networks which provide an important local focus for improvements in hepatitis C. The National Health Service continues to work to deliver treatment to 10,000 patients. NHS England is also working with the pharmaceutical industry to secure reductions in price of these effective but costly drugs to enable more people to be cured of hepatitis C.