Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has to facilitate commercial discussions between manufacturers and NHS England at an early stage in its evaluations of highly specialised technologies.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) it has recently set up a commercial function that specifically focuses on engaging in discussions around commercial arrangements - The Commercial and Managed Access Programme. Through this function, NICE will provide companies with opportunities to engage in commercial and managed access conversations with both NICE and NHS England.