Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions his Department has had on the availability of new treatments for (a) skin cancer patients and (b) patients with advanced melanoma.

A number of drugs for the treatment of skin cancers including melanoma are licensed and are available for use on the National Health Service, subject to funding decisions by the relevant commissioner.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has recommended a number of drugs for skin cancers and melanoma and is currently developing technology appraisal guidance on several new treatments. In addition, NICE is developing a clinical guideline on the assessment and management of melanoma and its final guidance is expected to be published later this month.

We take the issue of ensuring rapid access to innovative therapies very seriously, which is why we have launched an Accelerated Access Review to make recommendations to Government later in the year on speeding up access for NHS patients to innovative and cost effective new medicines, diagnostics and medical technologies.