Give an inch and they take a mile…is NICE getting too big for its boots?

What is it about QUANGOs? The minute you start to give them some respect, they seem to think that they should be running the country, not just advising on matters for which they were set up to consider. 

NICE is not everyone’s cup of tea and I confess to feelings of great trepidation when it was first mooted back in the late ‘90s. Although it still causes immense frustration when some of its decisions seem simply arbitrary and prejudiced, especially when it comes to new cancer therapies, it must be said that it has brought some rigour to the prescribing process. The fact that many governments around the world are seeking to copy it is perhaps a testament to its prowess, but the cynic in me can’t help thinking that’s simply because said governments see it as a ‘legitimate’ way of restraining their drugs budgets.

But some of the latest pronouncements from NICE really take the biscuit (semi-intentional pun there). I couldn’t believe it this morning when I heard on the radio that NICE had proclaimed that sex education should start early in primary schools. I have no strong opinion either way on this topic, but I’m astonished that NICE have an opinion at all! This surely is nowhere near their remit? NICE does not stand for National Institute for Children’s Education, but for Health and Clinical Excellence. I admit that you could argue that having sex, especially unprotected sex, can have disastrous consequences for the health of teenagers, but surely there are more appropriate bodies to be involved in this, not least the Government itself. 

It doesn’t stop there. This month alone, in two separate announcements NICE is advising anyone who cares to listen that there should be a minimum price for alcohol and that the drink-drive limit should be reduced. Again, no matter what your view on these matters, should we really pay so much attention to unelected, albeit taxpayer-funded ‘experts’?

I’m more than happy for them to pronounce on the most appropriate use for inhaled steroids, for example, but please don’t start telling us how to live our lives.