Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government, in light of ongoing developments in mental health treatment and research, whether they consider it appropriate for the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence to conduct substantive reviews of its mental health guidelines at least every five years.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is an independent body and is responsible for keeping its guidelines up to date in light of new evidence. NICE keeps its guidance under active surveillance and decisions on whether published guidelines should be updated in light of new evidence are taken by the NICE prioritisation board, chaired by the NICE Chief Medical Officer, in line with its published prioritisation framework as opposed to fixed points.

NICE has a large suite of mental health guidelines with mental health being included as one of its priority topics for 2026/27. Details of the guidelines that are currently under review or being actively updated in NICE’s mental health topic suite are published on NICE’s website in an online-only format.