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 changes needed to (a) NICE and NHS England and Improvement's health technology approval processes and (b) NHS England's commercial policy to improve (i) access to and (ii) uptake of new medicines and vaccines; and if he will make a statement.

The National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is the independent body responsible for developing authoritative, evidence-based recommendations for the National Health Service on whether new medicines represent a clinically and cost-effective use of resources. NICE is responsible for the methods and processes it uses in the assessment of health technologies and it is currently reviewing its appraisal methods.

New commercial flexibilities and support structures have been introduced to support access and uptake of transformative medicines, including NHS England and NHS Improvement’s Commercial Framework.