Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what progress his Department made in 2014 on implementing the objectives of the Innovation, Health and Wealth: Accelerating Adoption and Diffusion in the NHS report; and if he will make a statement.

We are starting to see very encouraging signs of improvement in the uptake and use of innovation in the National Health Service. Both the Department and NHS England remain committed to driving improvements in health through developing, testing and spreading innovation across the health system. Key developments in 2014 include:

- The NICE Implementation Collaborative has continued to support faster and more consistent access to National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) recommended medicines, treatments and technologies. Significant increases in appropriate usage of drugs covered by this initiative have been demonstrated at a national level.

- The Innovation Scorecard demonstrates that the rate of uptake and utility of new medicines recommended by NICE has significantly increased, particularly for innovative treatments such as Novel Oral Anti-Coagulants (NOACs).

The Five Year Forward View builds on this progress. Through its publication and implementation NHS England and its partners have committed to driving improvements in health through developing, testing and spreading innovation across the health system.