Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of commissioning a review into the use of electroconvulsive therapy.

We have made no such assessment.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) provides guidelines which includes recommendations on the use of electroconvulsive therapy. The Department expects commissioners and providers of services to pay due regard to these guidelines and NICE keeps its guidance under regular review.