Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many prescriptions for Sativex have been issued by the NHS in each month since November 2019.

There have been 1,700 items for Sativex prescribed on an NHS prescription, dispensed in the community in England and submitted to the NHS Business Services Authority for reimbursement for the period November 2019 to August 2020, the latest data available. The following table shows the number of items by month.

The NHS Business Service Authority is unable to provide the number of National Health Service prescription items for unlicensed cannabis-based products dispensed in the community in England. This information is being withheld in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation, due to the number of items attributed to less than five patients and potential for patient identifiable information to be published.