Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department has taken to help ensure that the outcomes of the (a) Innovative Medicines Fund and (b) NICE Methods Review will align as their consultation processes are due to complete at similar times.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and NHS England and NHS Improvement are working together to develop proposals for the Innovative Medicines Fund (IMF). A public engagement exercise on the IMF is expected later this year and a detailed timescale for this will be confirmed in due course.

NICE also expects to consult on proposed changes to its programme manual in the summer as part of its ongoing methods and process review. NICE and NHS England and NHS Improvement will ensure the resulting approach to managed access, as part of a NICE appraisal, supports early patient access to the most promising new treatments.