Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of inequalities in access to NHS weight-loss medicines between people living in the most and least deprived areas of England; what data they hold on prescribing and access by level of deprivation; and whether they intend to publish an assessment of these inequalities.

The specific data requested is not centrally held by the Department, but on the wider issue raised, I refer the Noble Baroness to the answer provided in the House of Commons on 2 June in response to Question 2751, which, for ease of reference, is reproduced below.

“Integrated care boards (ICBs) are legally required to make funding available for medicines recommended by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) in line with NICE guidance and the NICE Funding Variation for tirzepatide.

“NHS England is supporting ICBs to implement local pathways for the assessment, prescribing, and management of tirzepatide, and has centrally commissioned wraparound support for eligible patients. It has also provided additional funding in 2025/26 and 2026/27 to support towards the cost of prescribing weight loss medicines. From 2026/27, NHS England has introduced new Quality and Outcomes Framework indicators, with additional funding to support implementation of obesity medicine pathways in primary care.

“NHS England monitors implementation through routine engagement with systems. There are currently no plans for NHS England to review the methodology used to allocate funding to ICBs for these services.”