Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent discussions his Department has had with NICE on updating update its Type 1 Diabetes guidance to incorporate screening for Type 1 Diabetes.

The Department has had no discussions with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) on updating its guideline on type 1 diabetes. NICE is an independent body and is responsible for making decisions on whether its guidance should be updated in the light of new evidence.

NICE translates research into evidence-based guidance for the National Health Service on best practice in the diagnosis and treatment of NHS patients, but it does not make recommendations on the use of screening programmes in its guidance. The Government is led by the advice of the UK National Screening Committee on all matters relating to targeted and population screening. A screening programme is only recommended where the evidence shows it will do more good than harm.