Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of variations in the length of time NHS trusts take to implement NICE guidance.

We have made no such assessment.

Commissioners are legally required to fund treatments recommended in the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) technology appraisals or highly specialised technology evaluations, normally within three months of NICE’s guidance being published. Other guidance from NICE is not mandatory.

We expect commissioners to take NICE’s guidance into account in their decision making. The Innovation Scorecard provides data on local level uptake of some NICE approved products over a period of time. This data can be used by local commissioners to support identification of variation in uptake of some newer products.