Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care what discussions he has had with NICE on the potential impact of its approval of medicines for use in the NHS on (a) economic productivity, (b) health outcomes and (c) reducing the burden of disease on (i) patients and (ii) caregivers.

Departmental officials regularly discuss a range of issues with colleagues in the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), including the impact of its recommendations.

NICE develops its guidance independently and based on an assessment of the available evidence, considering all health-related costs and benefits for patients and caregivers, including health outcomes, in line with its established methods and processes.

NICE does not take account of economic productivity in its assessments. It would involve valuing interventions differently based on the working status of the recipient population, which would be methodologically and ethically challenging and could systematically disadvantage certain groups including children, long-term sick and unemployed people, and result in fewer treatments being recommended for these populations.