Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to provide (a) resources and (b) expertise to (i) assess digital health technologies and (ii) maintain the safety of its recommendations.

The National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is equipped with both the resource and expertise to assess regulated Digital Health Technologies used across the National Health Service. The NICE produces guidance for the use of technologies, indicating their clinical and cost effectiveness, which can be used by local NHS organisations to inform commissioning decisions.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is responsible for technology safety and the NICE responds to any relevant MHRA alerts issued as appropriate. This includes updating guidance or withdrawing NICE recommendations when appropriate.