Your voice in parliament

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Parliamentary activity

  • In June 2022 we organised a roundtable in Westminster where we presented a report laying out the barriers to diagnosis and the stark risks facing those still undiagnosed across the UK. This led to the re-establishment of the All Party Parliamentary Group on coeliac disease and its subsequent inquiry into diagnosis of the conditions. You can read its report here. 
  • In recent years Coeliac UK has written to Ministers of Health in each of the four UK Nations highlighting the challenge of diagnosis and supporting the development of patient pathways to support improved diagnosis.
  • We also work with champions across the four UK nations to raise parliamentary questions in the respective parliaments and supported a Motion to Parliament in Scotland and Statement of Opinion in the Senedd Cymru.
  • We act as Secretariat for the All Party Parliamentary Group on coeliac disease in Westminster and Senedd Cymru Cross Party Group on coeliac disease in Cardiff 
  • We launched a diagnosis call to action in the Scottish Parliament with the Minster for Public Health in March 2023. 

Cross Party & All Party Groups

We’re working to build relationships with parliamentarians across the UK to deliver change for the coeliac community.

Westminster

Coeliac UK supported the re-establishment of the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on coeliac disease in Westminster. Made up of representatives from various parties, these groups come together to pursue a topic or shared interest and can provide a platform to drive policy change in parliament. The first meeting took place in October 2022 and in 2023 the APPG launched an inquiry looking at the barriers to diagnosis of coeliac disease, drawing on expert testimony from clinicians, researchers and patients from across the UK. The group published its report at an event in Westminster in September 2023.  Following APPG rule changes in April 2024, the decision was taken to transition away from an APPG group to an informal network of supportive MPs and Peers. Coeliac UK and the group membership will be continuing to meet on this basis and will be engaging  with Parliamentarians and decision makers over the coming months to discuss implementation of its recommendations. To To read the report click here.

Senedd Cymru

The Welsh Parliament Cross Party Group on Coeliac Disease and DH is made up of Members of the Senedd (MS), healthcare professionals and Coeliac UK members. The group is chaired by Rhun Ap Iorwerth MS/AC and meets regularly to drive policy solutions to issues facing people with coeliac disease in Wales. Read about the group and view the minutes here.

The charity regularly engages withe parliamentarians and Welsh Government on a range of issues. In 2024 we launched our Call to Action at our Awareness Month reception in the Senedd. Read the English language report here.

lawrlwytho fersiwn Cymraeg yma 

The Scottish Parliament

In March 2023 we hosted a parliamentary event on diagnosis, sponsored by Jackie Baillie MSP and attended by the then Minister for Public Health, Maree Todd MSP.  We’ve written to MSPs from across the political spectrum raising the challenge of underdiagnois of coeliac disease, recently supported written questions to Scottish Government and a Motion to Parliament in support of better diagnosis signed by more than 20 MSPs.  We continue to press the Scottish Government for the roll out of the Scottish coeliac pathway across the country.

You can read our diagnosis Call to Action for Scotland here. 

The Northern Ireland Assembly

We regularly work with MLAs from across the political spectrum to raise awareness of the challenges facing the coeliac community. In recent years, we've written to policy makers on the issue of under-diagnosis of coeliac disease and met with officials from the Department of Health.

This May saw the charity host a parliamentary event in Stormont to mark Coeliac Awareness Month. Hosted by Colin McGrath MLa, the event was well attended, with local volunteers and dietitians from the dietetic network present, alongside MLAs from the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP), Sinn Fein, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and, Alliance and People Before Profit, showing their support. Our first event since the Assembly was re-established, we look forward to working with the party leadership to address the ongoing diagnosis challenge.  

You can read our Northern Ireland Call to Action here

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