Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to monitor the long-term health and well-being of those born with cleft lips and palates.

The Government is committed to giving every child the best start in life and raising the healthiest generation of children ever.  NHS England commissions services for children, young people and adults with a cleft lip and/or palate.

The patient pathway can start from pre-birth and continues into adulthood. Cleft services provide care through multi-disciplinary teams including orthodontists, speech and language therapists and clinical psychologists. These services are available to children and young people with a cleft lip and/or palate until they are at least 20 years old and to adults at any age. The service specifications outline the stages at which psychological support is provided and includes the requirement that all patients with a cleft lip and/or palate are regularly assessed and offered psychological support if needed. More information is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/d07-cleft-lip.pdf

All cleft lip and/or palate services are required to submit data to the Cleft Registry and Audit Network, which is hosted and run by the Royal College of Surgeons and funded by NHS England.