Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether NHS England is continuing to consider whether to publish the minutes of meetings of the Clinical Priorities Advisory Group; what factors it is taking into consideration before making that decision; and if he will make a statement.

NHS England has advised that it is planning to publish the Clinical Priorities Advisory Group (CPAG) minutes for the meeting which took place in February. It plans to publish these minutes and others following the current NHS England consultation on the principles underpinning prioritisation in specialised services. The consultation closes on 27 April 2015 and can be found at:

www.engage.england.nhs.uk/consultation/investing-in-specialised-commissioning

NHS England has advised that it intends to routinely publish minutes of CPAG meetings in the future, and is considering how to make available minutes of previous meetings.