Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the (a) clinical and (b) cost effectiveness of the provision of bariatric surgery alongside other preventative public health measures in reducing cases of type two diabetes.

It is for the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) to provide national clinical guidance and advice, based on best evidence of clinical and cost effectiveness, for use of interventions, technology and devices.

NICE has published a clinical guideline on the identification, assessment and management of obesity that contains recommendations for assessment for bariatric surgery to be considered for people with recent-onset type 2 diabetes within specified criteria:

https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/cg189/chapter/1-recommendations

It has not, however, published guidance on the specific role of bariatric surgery as an intervention to prevent type 2 diabetes in those at high risk.