Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what is the process for the selection and prioritisation of NICE Health Technology Assessment Innovation Laboratory projects.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s (NICE) Health Technology Assessment Innovation Laboratory (HTA Lab) receives suggestions for exploratory projects from NICE guidance-producing teams and external stakeholders.

Proposed topics are considered by the HTA Lab steering group, which comprises senior representatives from NICE’s guidance-producing functions and the All Wales Therapeutics and Toxicology Centre.

Where a proposal falls within the HTA Lab’s remit, primarily complex issues relating to the evaluation of medicines, it is assessed for alignment with existing work, key HTA challenges, and the potential to deliver meaningful outputs within a reasonable timeframe.

Proposals recommended for full HTA Lab projects are submitted to a NICE programme board for executive-level consideration alongside wider organisational and system priorities, and for approval or rejection.