Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of the NHS Commercial Framework on access to medicines through managed access agreements.

NHS England and NHS Improvement has advised that the Commercial Framework for new medicines remains in draft at this time with publication expected in spring 2020. The Commercial Framework is designed to complement the processes and methods of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s technology appraisal programme which provides direction on when managed access agreements may be appropriate. The framework will promote the opportunities that currently exist and clarify NHS England and NHS Improvement’s involvement within the existing arrangements rather than advising on new opportunities for managed access agreements.