Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the impact on transparency of data redaction in technology appraisals and highly specialised technology evaluations issued by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence.

The Department has made no such assessment. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is an independent body responsible for developing guidance in line with its established methods and processes. NICE is committed to ensuring its processes for health technology evaluation are as transparent as possible and considers it essential that evidence on which its committees’ decisions are based is made available to stakeholders and the public. To ensure faster access to treatments for patients, NICE’s appraisals are conducted in parallel with the regulatory process wherever possible. NICE’s approach to handling confidential information for health technology evaluation is set out in its guide to the processes of technology appraisal.