Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Kamall on 22 July (HL1593), how many (1) NHS, and (2) private, (a) licensed, and (b) unlicensed, prescriptions for cannabis medicines were made for severe treatment-resistant epilepsy in 2022.

This information is not held in the format requested. The NHS Business Services Authority collects data relating to drugs prescribed in the National Health Service in England and dispensed within a community setting and private prescriptions concerning controlled drugs dispensed in the community. However, information on the condition for which a prescription has been issued is not held centrally.

We are unable to provide the information requested on NHS prescriptions for unlicensed cannabis-based medicines as the number of items is attributed to fewer than five patients and the data could potentially identify individuals.