Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an estimate of the number of faecal calprotectin tests that were issued in primary care settings in the last 12 months; and whether his Department has taken recent steps to encourage the use of faecal calprotectin in primary care settings to facilitate the referral of people with suspected inflammatory bowel disease.

There are no plans to make a specific estimate. To facilitate the referral of people with suspected inflammatory bowel disease, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has published evidence-based recommendations on the use of faecal calprotectin tests, which is available at the following link:

https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/dg11