Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether there are plans to enable clinical commissioning groups to limit the number of people with diabetes whom they prescribe to.

Clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) have a statutory responsibility to provide services that meet the needs of local populations. If there is evidence of CCGs limiting prescriptions, and therefore rationing care, the Department expects NHS England to ensure the CCG is not breaching this statutory duty.

Treatment and prescribing decisions should always be made by clinicians based on patients’ clinical needs. It is a matter for NHS England, working in partnership with NHS Clinical Commissioners, to support CCGs to use their prescribing resources effectively and deliver best patient outcomes from the medicines that their local population uses.