Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of updating NICE’s guideline on anxiety disorders; and what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the guideline in reflecting patient choice of therapies.

The Department has made no assessment of the potential merits of updating the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guideline on anxiety disorders or the adequacy of the guideline in reflecting patients’ choice of therapies.

NICE is an independent body and its guidelines are developed by experts on the basis of a thorough assessment of the evidence and through extensive engagement with interested parties. NICE is also responsible for making decisions on whether its published guidelines should be updated in light of new evidence or emerging issues not in the scope of the original guideline.