Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has had discussions with officials in his Department on the potential merits of introducing maximum time limits on medication waiting lists.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) evaluates all new licensed medicines and licence extensions for existing medicines and aims to issue draft guidance on use around the time of licensing, with final guidance within 90 days of licensing wherever possible. The National Health Service is legally required to fund medicines recommended by NICE within 90 days of the publication of its final guidance. Recent initiatives such as the Innovative Licensing and Access Pathway, Project Orbis and the Innovative Medicines Fund will further support the rapid introduction of effective new medicines for the benefit of NHS patients.