Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment his Department has made of the potential effect of NICE and NHS England's proposed changes to the arrangements for evaluating and funding drugs and other health technologies appraised through NICE's technology appraisal and highly specialised technologies programme on NICE's forecasted Technology Appraisal publication timeframes.

Wherever possible, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) will continue to aim to publish draft guidance on new drugs and significant license extensions for existing drugs appraised within six months of the product receiving its marketing authorisation in the United Kingdom.

The fast track technology appraisal process will reduce the timeframe for development of technology appraisal guidance on eligible drugs by around three months and NHS England will fund drugs recommended through the fast track process one month after publication, bringing forward patient access by around five months.