Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate his Department has made of the number of people in England with epilepsy who experience tonic-clonic seizures and are not seizure-free despite treatment.

The Department does not hold data the number of people in England with epilepsy who continue to experience tonic‑clonic seizures despite treatment. Detailed national data on seizure type, seizure frequency, and individual treatment response are not routinely collected centrally.

However, independent prevalence studies indicate that approximately one‑third of people with epilepsy have drug‑resistant epilepsy, meaning their seizures are not fully controlled despite appropriate treatment. For some of these individuals, seizures may include ongoing tonic‑clonic seizures, although the specific proportion varies depending on factors such as epilepsy type, underlying cause, and access to specialist care.