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Dementia

It is not necessarily for me to determine who can give evidence, but we can certainly pass that information on to NICE and ensure that it is sensitive to my hon. Friend’s request. As I was saying, the process has been thorough, with two public consultations on appraisal documents and a targeted call for further data from the drug manufacturers. Hon. Members would accept, I am sure, that the recommendations have changed significantly in the light of new evidence as the appraisal has progressed. The hon. Member for Sutton and Cheam gave a slightly distorted picture. Many people profoundly disagree with NICE’s recommendations and we understand the disagreement and disappointment with the stage reached by NICE, but I am not entirely comfortable with second-guessing experts and specialists in the field who have a clear remit set by Parliament, and with implying that the hon. Gentleman is in a better position to make judgments than those experts and specialists. The hon. Gentleman asked whether the Department of Health would support the appeal. As a Member of this House, he knows full well that it would be entirely inappropriate for the Department to join any appeal to NICE. It is entirely right that having set up NICE the Department should trust it to make reasonable and sound judgments on some of the most sensitive issues that face health policy in this country.