That is a very good point, and I hope that it will be covered in the obesity strategy for young people when it comes out later in the year. A key part of our diabetes prevention strategy is to identify more and more people who are at high risk of developing type 2 diabetes and give them a personalised programme to reduce the likelihood of their getting diabetes. We hope that, by 2020, 100,000 people a year will be on that programme.

The Patient Experience of Diabetes Services (PEDS) pilot, a module of the National Diabetes Audit, was run last year. While the potential value of this survey is clear, there are other competing priorities for adding modules to existing national audits such as this. There is a robust process for assessing these, as well as which new national audits should be considered. As such, NHS England will review the potential to fund the PEDS survey alongside other Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership commissioned national audit and associated modules.

Other NHS England surveys capture the experiences of people with a wide range of conditions including diabetes. However, with the exception of the cancer patient experience survey, the information is not collected by specific conditions. As part of a forthcoming review of patient experience surveys, NHS England will consider whether it is best to collect information as it does currently or by specific conditions.

The management of people with diabetes is measured and reported on through the Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF), the CCG Outcomes Indicator Set (OIS) and National Diabetes Audit. These publications and data are used by local commissioners, providers and healthcare professionals to assess the quality of the services provided and to drive improvements.

General practitioners (GPs) are incentivised to ensure completion of the care processes recommended by The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) through the QOF. The latest available data (2011-12) shows a 60.5% completion rate of all the eight measurable NICE-recommended care processes for diabetes. However, it is for individual GP practices, working with the CCGs in their area, to assess their own performance on completion of the care processes, and take action where improvement is necessary.

CCGs can use the information reported from the OIS indicator on completion of the care processes for people with diabetes to assess progress in improvement in their area and against their peers. Where completion rates are low, CCGs can then take action jointly with other practices in their area to make improvements.

To support local commissioning, NHS England has also developed a non-mandatory service specification for diabetes, based on the diabetes NICE Quality Standard, which is currently being piloted with some CCGs. The pilot will be evaluated to assess how useful the specification has been to commissioners, and this will inform decisions about its future development.

The Patient Experience of Diabetes Services survey, part of the National Diabetes Audit, is measuring the healthcare experiences of people with diabetes in England and Wales. The survey pilot tested an online-only approach to measure patient experience in GP and specialist diabetes services. Any diabetes service in England and Wales should be able to use the survey to get feedback from their patients. The survey can help to raise standards and drive out variation, and also empower services to understand at a local level how satisfied their patients are with the service being provided.

The management of people with diabetes is measured and reported on through the Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF), the CCG Outcomes Indicator Set (OIS) and National Diabetes Audit. These publications and data are used by local commissioners, providers and healthcare professionals to assess the quality of the services provided and to drive improvements.

General practitioners (GPs) are incentivised to ensure completion of the care processes recommended by The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) through the QOF. The latest available data (2011-12) shows a 60.5% completion rate of all the eight measurable NICE-recommended care processes for diabetes. However, it is for individual GP practices, working with the CCGs in their area, to assess their own performance on completion of the care processes, and take action where improvement is necessary.

CCGs can use the information reported from the OIS indicator on completion of the care processes for people with diabetes to assess progress in improvement in their area and against their peers. Where completion rates are low, CCGs can then take action jointly with other practices in their area to make improvements.

To support local commissioning, NHS England has also developed a non-mandatory service specification for diabetes, based on the diabetes NICE Quality Standard, which is currently being piloted with some CCGs. The pilot will be evaluated to assess how useful the specification has been to commissioners, and this will inform decisions about its future development.

The Patient Experience of Diabetes Services survey, part of the National Diabetes Audit, is measuring the healthcare experiences of people with diabetes in England and Wales. The survey pilot tested an online-only approach to measure patient experience in GP and specialist diabetes services. Any diabetes service in England and Wales should be able to use the survey to get feedback from their patients. The survey can help to raise standards and drive out variation, and also empower services to understand at a local level how satisfied their patients are with the service being provided.

Action for Diabetes sets out the broad vision and direction for how NHS England will support improvements in outcomes for people with and at risk of diabetes in the coming years, as a direct commissioner of services and supporting clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) in their commissioning role.

Outcomes for people with diabetes will continue to be measured through the NHS Outcomes Framework and the CCG Outcomes Indicator Set, which are both updated and published annually. Outcomes for people with diabetes will also be assessed through the National Diabetes Audit, which includes the core audit, the national inpatient diabetes audit, the national diabetes pregnancy audit, the national patient experience of diabetes services survey and the national diabetes foot audit. The latter of these is due to be launched this summer.

We want to ensure that patients, including those with diabetes, have access to new and effective treatments on terms that represent value to the National Health Service and the taxpayer.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has recommended a number of medicines for diabetes. National Health Service commissioners are legally required by regulations to fund those medicines recommended by NICE in its technology appraisal guidance.

Exercise is recommended under the Change4Life programme and under the advice given by NICE. However, the noble Baroness is absolutely right to mention a possible genetic cause. The cause of diabetes is not fully understood and is multi-factorial. Healthy eating, weight control and exercise can help reduce the risks, but that is not the full picture. It is suspected that there is a genetic component in the case of black and ethnic-minority communities.