Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the oral contribution of the hon. Member for Bosworth of 8 December 2016 on the treatment of cancer using Chinese medicine, Official Report, col 450, what his policy is on the use of traditional Chinese medicine for the treatment of cancer.

The Department does not maintain a position on any particular complementary or alternative medicine treatments. It is the responsibility of local National Health Service organisations to make decisions on the commissioning and funding of any healthcare treatments for NHS patients taking into account issues to do with safety, clinical and cost-effectiveness and the availability of suitably qualified/regulated practitioners. They would also have to take into account any locally developed policies on funding, commissioning and priorities.