Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Markham on 7 November 2022 (HL2600), how they can assure accountability in decision-making in relation to the RAPID C-19 independent advisory meetings if there are no minutes and attendee lists available.

RAPID C-19 is a multi-agency initiative which includes representatives from the National Institute for Health and Care Research, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, NHS England and the devolved administrations.

RAPID C-19 consists of scientific experts, including clinicians, pharmacists, evidence assessors and researchers, who provide independent clinical advice to the Chief Medical Officer for England. RAPID C-19’s expertise is related to the organisations represented, which include the main healthcare agencies involved in decisions on research, regulation, and introducing new treatments into the National Health Service. A list of the membership of the RAPID C-19 is available on the NICE website. The operation of RAPID C-19 was also governed by terms of reference, which included a requirement for the group to be quorate and for members to declare interests. Appropriate action and decision logs were maintained for all RAPID C-19 discussions.

RAPID C-19's role was to provide advice on the strength of the signals of effectiveness from emerging evidence on potential treatments to the appropriate decision makers. The RAPID C-19 Oversight Group’s report: review of Evusheld was published on 6 October in an online only format. It concluded that the quality of data is insufficient to progress to patient access before the completion of NICE’s technology appraisal, which will determine the drug’s clinical and cost-effectiveness. The Department does not hold the minutes or a list of attendees from the meetings in which this decision was made, as RAPID C-19 is an independent advisory group.