Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if his Department will consider providing financial support for children living with Coeliac disease.

We recognise the pressures families face in managing coeliac disease, particularly the additional costs of maintaining a strict gluten-free (GF) diet, which is the only effective treatment for this condition.

The national prescribing position in England remains that GF bread and mixes can be provided to coeliac patients on a National Health Service prescription, and a wide range of these items continue to be listed in Part XV of the Drug Tariff. This means that prescribers can issue NHS prescriptions, based on a shared decision between prescriber and patient, while also being mindful of local and national guidance. Children under 16 years old, and those aged between 16 to 18 years old in full-time education, are entitled to free NHS prescriptions, ensuring that where integrated care boards support GF prescribing, eligible children can access these products without charge.