Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he has taken to implement the recommendations made by the Prescribed Specialised Services Advisory Group on 10 March 2017 on Alpha 1 Anti-Trypsyn services.

The Prescribed Specialised Services Advisory Group recommended that this become a directly commissioned service by NHS England. Ministers have accepted this recommendation but agreed to NHS England’s request for more time to prepare for a transfer. As such, NHS England has agreed to work towards becoming the responsible commissioner from April 2018 to give NHS England time to identify patients and build an appropriate service specification.