Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to reduce geographic variation in liver disease (a) diagnosis (b) treatment and (c) health outcomes.

I refer the Hon. Member to the answer he received on 20 July in response to Question 17758.

Subsequent to this answer, NHS England’s Transformation of Liver Services Programme has been retitled Liver Disease Programme, and has moved into the next phase of delivery, which will focus on a targeted set of priorities where the programme can continue to build on the strongest areas of impact and provide strategic national support, strengthen alignment with wider transformation agendas, and enable systems to prepare for new clinical and operational opportunities.