Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if her Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of increasing the (a) transparency and (b) inclusivity of processes for (i) NHS England Specialised services and (ii) the development of new commissioning policies.

The processes for NHS England Specialised Services and the development of new commissioning policies are published online. The October 2022 prioritisation decisions available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/commissioning/spec-services/october-2022-prioritisation-decisions/

NHS England makes decisions on which new specialised treatments should be routinely commissioned. The decisions are taken by the NHS England Board based on advice from the Clinical Priorities Advisory Group, which includes doctors, health experts and patient representatives.