Information on total diabetes spend is not collected or held centrally as most services for people living with diabetes is commissioned locally.

To date NHS England has invested approximately £120 million of transformation funding into local services to target variation and improve performance in the treatment and care of people living with diabetes since 2017/18.

The data is not available in the format requested. Data is collected based on finished admission episodes, rather than the number of people.

The information is not available in the format requested.

It is not possible to determine from collected data whether the gastric bypass surgical procedures were undertaken in order to treat type 2 diabetes.

The Secretary of State for Transport’s Honorary Medical Advisory Panel on Driving and Diabetes provides advice on the medical standards in regard to diabetes and safe driving. There are no current plans to change the medical standards for driving with diabetes which would require a change to regulations.

This Government is committed to supporting everyone’s mental health and wellbeing and ensuring the right support for those with diabetic foot disease. All mental health trusts have established 24 hours a day, seven days a week urgent mental health helplines where people experiencing a mental health crisis can access support and advice but also face to face appointments where appropriate.

Evidence suggests that multidisciplinary footcare teams play a major role in a good diabetes footcare pathway and can significantly reduce amputations and subsequently the financial burden of diabetic foot disease. The proportion of hospitals offering access to multidisciplinary footcare teams has increased from 5 % in 2011 to 82% in 2019.

An increase in wounds in younger patients is likely to be related to an increase in the prevalence of co-morbidities in a younger population, as chronic wounds are usually due to co-morbidities that affect wound healing, such as patients with diabetes, arterial disease and venous disease.

NHS England and NHS Improvement fund the National Wound Care Strategy Programme which is developing a number of quality improvement initiatives to prevent wounds and improve wound healing. NHS England and NHS Improvement also continue to prioritise diabetes prevention, including through The NHS Long Term Plan, which commits to fund a doubling of the NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme over the next five years, including a new digital option to widen patient choice and target inequality. Preventing diabetes and other co-morbidities is key to reducing the prevalence of wounds in adults.

We recognise that diabetes is a disease that can affect anyone and there is increased prevalence in deprived areas. The NHS Long Term plan has committed to providing a targeted support offer and access to weight management services in primary care is available for people with a diagnosis of type 2 diabetes and/or hypertension, with a Body Mass Index over 30, which is adjusted appropriately for ethnicity.

NHS England and NHS Improvement recognise that obesity is strongly associated with deprivation and the Weight Management Innovation Platform will target higher levels of tailored support for people from deprived communities to achieve and maintain a healthy weight.

The £559 million technology funding for NHSX announced in the Spending Review is not disease specific but covers the infrastructure and whole pathways work for all major diseases, including diabetes. This investment will support the National Health Service frontline, help fast track innovation and deliver a better experience for patients and staff alike.

In addition to this work and as part of the NHS Long Term Plan, NHS England and NHS Improvement committed to both improving the pipeline of innovation and speeding up the uptake and spread, so that proven and affordable innovations get to patients faster. It sets out a number of specific commitments in relation to the treatment of people living with diabetes and supporting the adoption of new technologies.

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) consists of independent experts who advise the Government on which vaccine/s the United Kingdom should use and provide advice on prioritisation at a population level. The JCVI has advised that the first priorities for any COVID-19 vaccination programme should be the prevention of COVID-19 mortality and the protection of health and social care staff and systems.

Therefore, in line with the recommendations of the JCVI, the vaccine will be initially rolled out to the priority groups including care home residents and staff, people over 80 years old and health and care workers,. The vaccine will then be prioritised amongst the rest of the population in order of age and risk, including those who are clinically extremely vulnerable and all individuals aged 16-64 years old with underlying health conditions such as diabetes.

The NHS has made substantial progress on digital transformation, both in the digitisation of local services and the use of technology to improve outcomes for patients. The £559 million technology funding for NHSX announced in the Spending Review is not disease specific but covers the infrastructure and whole pathways work for all major diseases, including diabetes. This investment will support the National Health Service frontline, help fast track innovation, and deliver a better experience for patients and staff alike.

Our safer working guidance includes advice specifically on supporting employees with characteristics that put them at higher risk of infection and/or an adverse outcome if infected, including those with health conditions such as diabetes.

This guidance is regularly updated and measures reviewed in line with scientific evidence. The guidance can be found at: www.gov.uk/guidance/working-safely-during-coronavirus-covid-19.

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic diabetes care has remained a priority and general practice has supported patients with long term conditions to access care and support.

Recognising that access to face to face care has been limited, NHS England and NHS Improvement have expedited a procurement, to make two remote programmes available to provide education and self-management support for children and adults living with type 1 diabetes. The national diabetes programme team has also developed an on-line education programme of resources for people living with type 2 diabetes.

The NHS England and NHS Improvement Diabetes Programme Team has helped to develop a COVID-19 risk prediction model to support shared decision making between clinicians and patients based on more accurate information as well as discussions on how to reduce risk of COVID-19 for all, including those with diabetes.

The Department, in consultation with the devolved administrations and Crown Dependencies, and with partners across the health and social care sector, has made detailed plans to help ensure continued supply of medicines and medical products, including medical supplies for diabetic insulin pumps, to the whole of the United Kingdom from 1 January 2021.

The Department wrote to industry on 3 August 2020 and an updated letter on 17 November setting out the plans. The letters are available at the following links:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/letter-to-medicines-and-medical-products-suppliers-3-august-2020/letter-to-medicine-suppliers-3-august-2020

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/letter-to-medicines-and-medical-products-suppliers-17-november-2020/letter-to-medicines-and-medical-product-suppliers-17-november-2020

Extra measures have been put in place during the COVID-19 pandemic so that people living with diabetes can continue to access support, including commissioning services to help people with diabetes of all ages self-manage their condition using online digital structured education programmes.

From 2020/21 through to 2023/24, a further £75 million of targeted funding is planned for allocation to sustainability and transformation partnerships and integrated care systems to support delivery of the NHS Long Term Plan commitments relating to the treatment and care of people living with diabetes which includes activities to improve achievement of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s recommended treatment targets.

Treatments may be brought into routine use in the National Health Service after their efficacy, safety, and cost-effectiveness have been appropriately demonstrated. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is responsible for assessing new technologies and interventional procedures, as well as producing guidelines for best practice of treatment and care.

NICE has produced diagnostics guidance on technologies for managing blood glucose levels in people with type 1 diabetes. These integrated sensor‑augmented pump therapy systems combine continuous glucose monitoring with continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion.

The criteria for being prescribed the freestyle libre glucose monitoring device were extended on 11 November 2020 to include both people with Type 1 diabetes and people who have insulin treated Type 2 diabetes who are living with a learning disability and who are recorded on their general practitioner’s learning disability register.

I recognise the major impact that diabetes has on society and would like to assure you that the Government is committed to continuing to improve diabetes care within the NHS.

While it would not be appropriate to respond in detail at this stage of the Spending Review, I can assure you that the issues you’ve raised have been noted.

General practitioners and other NHS service providers have been asked to prioritise flu vaccination for all those who are in the defined clinically vulnerable groups documented in the national guidance, including those with diabetes.

Vaccination of those who are in at risk groups has started and will continue in all areas in England through the winter months.

We do not receive data on a monthly basis for the diabetic eye screening programme. The data received is a cumulative indicator. The latest data from Public Health England is for the period October 2019 to December 2019, when a cumulative total of 2,340,428 eligible individuals attended a successful screening event, including routine digital screening, digital surveillance and slit lamp biomicroscopy surveillance.

The full quarterly data is available via the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/nhs-screening-programmes-kpi-reports-2019-to-2020