Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what guidance they have issued on the duration of time they consider appropriate in describing "long-term prescribing" in relation to benzodiazepines and Z-drugs.

The Department has not issued any guidance.

The Department has commissioned Public Health England to undertake an evidence review to better understand the scope of the problem of prescribed drug dependence.

The review will bring together the best available evidence on: prevalence and prescribing; the nature and likely causes of dependence or withdrawal among some people who continue to take these medicines; and effective prevention and treatment responses for each indication.