§ Mr. BercowTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the performance indicators to be used for the measurement of the appraisals by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence in pursuit of its public service agreement with his Department. [14903]
§ Mr. HuttonI refer the hon. Member to the reply given to my hon. Friend the Member for Norwich, North (Dr. Gibson) on 5 November 2001,Official Report, columns 118–20W.
§ Mr. BercowTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the public service agreement target for the production of appraisals by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence by 31 March. [14904]
§ Mr. HuttonThe public service agreement which formed part of the 1998 comprehensive spending review settlement included a target of establishing the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) by 1 April 1999 with a view to it producing at least 30 appraisals of new or existing technologies and guidance per annum from 2000–01. NICE was established and in 2000–01 published 21 appraisals, many of which covered more than one technology.
The public service agreement incorporated in the 2000 spending review settlement does not contain specific targets for the production of NICE guidance.