Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the finding from the report by the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations, Patients W.A.I.T. Indicator 2024 Survey, published in May 2025, that only 50 per cent of European Medicines Agency approved non-oncology orphan medicines were reimbursed and made available to patients in England.

The Government recognises how important it is that patients with rare diseases can benefit from access to effective new medicines.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is able to recommend the vast majority of medicines it evaluates for use in the National Health Service, including medicines for the treatment of rare diseases. The recently announced increase to the cost-effectiveness threshold will, alongside measures announced in the Life Sciences Sector Plan, increase both the speed and breadth of patient access to innovative medicines.