Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of reviewing the effect of changes to the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence Highly Specialised Technology Programme earlier than three years after their implementation in April 2017.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is an independent body and is responsible for the methods and processes used in the development of its guidance, and for keeping its procedures under review. Following consultation with stakeholders, NICE concluded that a three year period would be appropriate to gain sufficient experience of its updated highly specialised technology evaluation methods to enable a robust review.