Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of taking steps to (a) integrate acupuncture practitioners into the broader healthcare system and (b) ensuring their treatments are in alignment with (i) standard medical practices and (ii) patient safety protocols.

The Government has no plans to introduce statutory regulation for acupuncture practitioners in the United Kingdom, and we have no plans to make such assessments. The Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care (PSA) operates an accredited voluntary registers programme, providing a proportionate means of assurance for unregulated professions by setting standards for organisations holding voluntary registers.

The British Acupuncture Council holds a voluntary register of acupuncturists, which is accredited by the PSA. The organisations accredited by the PSA are independent, representative bodies and as such, they do not fall under Government oversight and therefore any decisions about the practice requirements for the professions they represent are a matter for those organisations and their members.