Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent discussions he has had with NHS England on future (a) funding and (b) commissioning arrangements for hepatitis C services after April 2024.

The NHS England Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) Elimination Programme is working towards eliminating HCV as a major public health issue in England, ahead of the 2030 World Health Organization target. Significant progress has been made and NHS England has publicly committed to the elimination of HCV in England by 2025, in the financial year 2025/26. NHS England has envisaged that current funding arrangements will continue in some form to allow future HCV elimination work to continue. Currently, commissioning arrangement for HCV elimination occur at a national level. After the point of elimination, which is expected to be at or close to 2025, work to ensure elimination is maintained will be devolved to local commissioning structures.