Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress NHS England has made on expanding the scope of the National Contract Value Review to include (a) early phase studies and (b) advanced therapy medicinal products.

NHS England has made progress on expanding the scope of the National Contract Value Review (NCVR) by implementing Stage 2 from October 2023, which eliminates local negotiation with National Health Service organisations, improving commercial study setup timelines. NHS England and the Devolved Administrations are committed to extending NCVR to include the setup of Early Phase (phase I and IIa) and Advanced Therapeutic Medicinal Products (ATMPs) studies. Work has begun to introduce NCVR in a limited number of ATMP studies to test and refine the process.