Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department plans to raise the minimum reference range for vitamin B12 serum levels to 500 pmol/L.

The assessment and clinical management of vitamin B12 falls under the remit of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE). In March 2024, the NICE published the guidance, Vitamin B12 deficiency in over 16s: diagnosis and management, which is available at the following link:

https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng239

The guidance provides thresholds in table 1 to guide diagnosis. There are no plans to update this guidance at present.