Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of the total number of people from black and minority ethnic backgrounds suffering from epilepsy in (a) the UK, (b) London and (c) the London North West Healthcare NHS Trust.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence estimates that epilepsy affects between 362,000 and 415,000 people in England. No estimates are available of the number of people with epilepsy from different ethnic backgrounds.

Additional epilepsy prevalence data can be found via the Quality and Outcomes Framework, which includes an indicator based on the number of patients aged 18 or over receiving drug treatment for epilepsy, as recorded on a general practice (GP) register.

Data are presented at GP and clinical commissioning group level, as well regionally and nationally. Latest results for 2015-16 can be viewed on the NHS Digital website at the following link:

www.content.digital.nhs.uk/catalogue/PUB22266