Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to assess the effectiveness of 5-aminolevulinic acid treatment for high grade brain tumours; and whether this treatment will be made available nationally.

Through its technology appraisal programme, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) provides independent, evidence-based guidance for the National Health Service on whether drugs and treatments represent a clinically and cost effective use of NHS resources. NICE has advised that it has not considered the use of 5-aminolevulinic acid for the treatment of high grade brain tumours. In the absence of guidance from NICE, it is for NHS organisations to make decisions on the availability of treatments based on an assessment of the available evidence.