Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure that people seeking a potential diagnosis of multiple sclerosis are seen by a neurologist within 12 weeks.

Cutting waiting lists is a key priority for the Government. We have committed to achieving the NHS constitutional standard that 92% of patients should wait no longer than 18 weeks from Referral to Treatment by March 2029, including in neurology services.

In January 2025, we published our Elective Reform Plan, which sets out our approach to hitting that target by the end of this Parliament.

We surpassed our manifesto pledge to deliver an extra two million elective appointments; we have delivered 5.2 million additional appointments in our first year of government. Many of those appointments included appointments for treating multiple sclerosis.

Waiting lists are coming down; they have fallen by over 206,000 since the Government came into office.