National Cancer Plan

Monday 9th February 2026 Lords Chamber

Statement

19:38

The following Statement was made in the House of Commons on Thursday 5 February.

“With permission, I will make a statement on the Government’s national cancer plan for England.

A cancer diagnosis changes you for ever. When I was diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer 18 months ago, I did not know whether I would be alive today, never mind standing at this Dispatch Box announcing a national cancer plan, but one year ago almost to the day, the Prime Minister asked me to do just that. Since the Government took office, over 212,000 more people are getting a cancer diagnosis on time, over 36,000 more are starting treatment on time, and rates of early diagnosis are hitting record highs. Despite those vital signs of recovery, though, the NHS is still failing far too many cancer patients and their families. That is why, first and foremost, this plan is a break with the failure of the past 15 years.

In 2011, the coalition Government published Improving Outcomes: A Strategy for Cancer. That strategy was followed in 2016 by Achieving World-Class Cancer Outcomes: a Strategy for England 2015-2020. In 2019, the long-term health plan for England made cancer a priority and included a headline ambition to diagnose 75% of cancers at stages 1 and 2. However well-intentioned those strategies were, not one of them has lived up to its promises. Cancer mortality rates in the UK are much higher than in other comparable countries, while survival rates are much lower. Cancer incidence is around 15% higher than when the 62-day standard was last met, and working-class communities are being failed most of all. The most deprived areas, including rural and coastal communities, often have fewer cancer consultants, leaving patients waiting longer. This all adds up to the chilling fact that someone living in Blackpool is almost twice as likely to die young from cancer than someone living in Harrow. Wherever in our country a person lives, they deserve the same shot at survival and quality of life as everyone else. Wealth should not dictate their health, and neither should their postcode.

Behind these statistics are real people. I have heard from those whose care lacked empathy and dignity, from those whose cancer was missed or whose test results were lost, from those who were passed from pillar to post and kept in the dark about their condition, and from those whose loved ones died before their turn came for surgery because the wait was too long. Those experiences are unacceptable—they are devastating. From day one, I was determined to put their voices front and centre of our plan. Over the past year, we have listened to and learned from cancer charities, clinicians and, most importantly, patients and their families. Every action is a response to someone’s lived experience. Every commitment is a promise to transform someone else’s life. Their stories have become the blueprint to make the biggest improvement in cancer outcomes in a generation.

Three major themes stood out from the 11,000 responses to our call for evidence, some 9,000 of which came from patients and their carers: core performance standards, improved survival, and quality of life after diagnosis. Those are not radical ideas but, unlike previous strategies, this plan is not limited to incremental improvement. Instead, it is an ambitious, bold plan to save 320,000 more lives by 2035, which will be the fastest rate of improvement this century. We will do that by modernising the NHS, harnessing the power of science and technology, putting our patients at the front of the queue for the latest medicines, and helping them to live well after diagnosis, not least for people diagnosed with stage 4, metastatic and incurable cancers—people like me.

How do we get there? We are placing big bets on genomics, data and artificial intelligence, as set out in our 10-year plan for health. We will hardwire the three shifts of our 10-year plan into cancer pathways. First, on moving from analogue to digital, we heard from patients about the importance of clinical trials, so we will make the UK one of the best places in the world to run a trial, with a new cancer trials accelerator. We will start people’s care earlier using liquid biopsy tests, which can return results up to two weeks sooner than conventional testing. We will harness AI to read scans, plan radiotherapy and identify the right path for each patient. We will harness genomics so that every eligible patient has access to precision medicines. We will harness data to make sure that all metastatic disease is counted properly—starting with breast cancer—so that people with incurable cancer are properly recognised and supported. When people are not counted, they feel like they do not count, but we will end that.

Innovation will also help us fight inequalities and make the shift from sickness to prevention. We will turn the NHS app into a gateway for cancer care. By 2028, it will host a dashboard for cancer prevention, with access to tests and self-referral. By 2035, it will bring together genomic and lifestyle data with the single patient record to advise every patient according to their risk. That will benefit people in rural and coastal communities who can find it difficult to access specialist care simply due to geography.

Finally, we will use the neighbourhood health service to make the shift from hospital to community. That will mean more care, from prehabilitation to recovery support, delivered closer to home. We will help people live well with cancer through tailored support closer to home. People will be given personal cancer plans, named neighbourhood care leads and clear end-of-treatment summaries so that no one feels abandoned after their treatment.

For too long, those with rarer cancers have seen little to no progress for many of their conditions. They told us we need a special focus on these cancers, and our plan sets out how they will benefit from the deployment of genomics, early detection and the development of new treatments. That was asked for by patients and will be delivered by this Government. I pay tribute to my honourable friend the Member for Mitcham and Morden, Dame Siobhain McDonagh, for her campaigning in memory of her late sister Margaret. We should also remember that the late Tessa Jowell raised this issue in 2018, and her family have campaigned ever since.

Our plan also gives pride of place to children and young people. We will improve their experience of care at every level, from hospital food to youth worker support and play support. I pay tribute to my honourable friend the Member for Leyton and Wanstead (Mr Bailey) for his campaigning on that point. Our children and young people cancer taskforce asked for support with travel costs, because when someone’s child has cancer, the last thing they should worry about is how they will pay for their train ticket. Today, I can announce that we will fund those travel costs.

Alongside rare and less common cancers, we will make research for children and young people a national priority. I take this moment to thank the children, young people and families who made up our Children and Young People Cancer Taskforce. It was a pleasure and a privilege to meet them earlier this week. I thank the many families and loved ones of people lost too soon who continue to fight to make change for others. I am so grateful to them, and I want people to hear their voices as they read the plan, because it is rooted in the voices of patients, families, clinicians and charities. It will turn cancer from one of this country’s biggest killers into a chronic condition that is treatable and manageable for three in four patients. It delivers the ambition of the 10-year health plan, embodies this Government’s three shifts and sets a clear path towards earlier diagnosis, faster treatment and world-leading survival rates by 2035.

This plan does not belong to the NHS, and it does not belong to the Government; it belongs to us all. We all must play a part in making it work. Over the past year, I have met the patients, families, carers, clinicians, researchers, cancer charities and voluntary groups who all contributed to our plan. This Government is on their side. We wrote this with them, and we cannot deliver it without them. Let us do it together. I commend this Statement to the House”.

[Earl Howe (Con)]

My Lords, I begin by welcoming the publication of the national cancer plan and make it clear we fully share the Government’s desire to tackle cancer and to succeed in the fight against a condition that has affected almost every family in the country in one way or another. The Government have set out a clear ambition in this area, and we support them in that endeavour. It is appropriate for me also to pay tribute to all those who have contributed to the development of the plan, particularly those with lived experience with cancer and those close to them. Their willingness to share their experiences with such openness—and in many cases, courage—has, I am sure, been invaluable in shaping the finished result, and they deserve our thanks and recognition.

The national cancer plan sets out a number of significant commitments, including improving early diagnosis, restoring performance against cancer waiting time standards, accelerating the set-up of clinical trials and rolling out targeted lung screening nationally. It also places a strong emphasis on modernising services through technology and innovation.

These are all laudable aims and, indeed, Cancer Research UK has said that there is “much to welcome” in the plan. However, it has also rightly noted that delivery, funding and accountability will ultimately determine whether patients see real change. It is easy to put ambitious plans down on paper, but what matter in the end are clear delivery milestones and accountability. In that respect, this plan echoes many of the ambitions of the 10-year NHS plan, which was strong on aspiration but lighter on detail about how improvements would be delivered on the ground. My first question is, therefore, straightforward. When will the Government publish clear, fully funded milestones setting out how and when patients can expect to see tangible improvements over the next year or two?

It is also clear that the success of the plan will depend on having a sufficient workforce of cancer nurses, radiographers, pathologists and oncologists to deliver its aims. Can the Minister say whether we will shortly see a fully funded long-term workforce plan to support the staffing required to expand diagnostic and treatment capacity, not just in NHS trust settings but within neighbourhood health centres? In particular, can the Government explain clearly who will staff these services and how they will be funded? Blood Cancer UK has highlighted the importance of ensuring that blood cancers are properly recognised in workforce and service planning, and that patients receive consistent support from the point of diagnosis, including access to a named healthcare professional. Staff also need to know that they will be supported in delivering this plan, given current strains on capacity. In that context, we hear anecdotally of the difficulties involved in ensuring that staffing by doctors is adequate in all parts of the country. Some doctors, especially doctors in training, make up their minds that they will not be sent to work in an area that is not to their liking, perhaps because it would locate them far from friends and family. Will the welcome announcement of more training places in rural areas be enough to get sufficient doctors working in those areas?

Alongside the important question of staffing levels sits the Government’s ambition to invest in up-to-date capital equipment and cutting-edge technology. Investment in this often expensive technology is best and most efficiently met through capital budgets managed centrally. That leads me to a question about accountability for delivery, and where such accountability will lie. With the planned absorption of NHS England into the department, can the Minister give a sense of how the national cancer plan as a whole will be steered and monitored, not only centrally but regionally?

One specific aspect of the plan that I would like to welcome is the dedicated chapter for children, teenagers and young adults. This has been described by the Teenage Cancer Trust as a crucial step and an important acknowledgement that teenagers and young people deserve care designed around them and not as an afterthought. The work that the Government have done in recognising this is welcome. One point that the Teenage Cancer Trust has made particularly clearly is the importance of involving young people at the policy development stage. Can the Minister set out how young people with cancer were engaged in the development of this plan and how their voices were reflected in its content? Looking ahead, what steps will the Government take to ensure this becomes an ongoing process: listening to young people with cancer and systematically taking their feedback into account as the plan is implemented and reviewed?

Another point that charities and campaigners have consistently emphasised is the importance of clearly distinguishing between children and young people. The needs and challenges facing a three year-old child are self-evidently different from those of a 17 year-old young person, and it is important that this distinction is properly recognised in both policy and practice. I would therefore be grateful if the Minister could set out for the House how these different groups within the broader category of children and young people are engaged with. In particular, it would be helpful to understand how mental health support is tailored to different age groups and how the impact of a cancer diagnosis at different stages of a young person’s educational journey is reflected in their treatment and support pathways. If the noble Baroness could confirm that this distinction is one which the Government actively make and which will be taken into account in future policy development, I should be most grateful.

Let me conclude by reiterating my support for this plan and for the ambitions it sets out. In particular, there are some welcome and promising commitments around improving access to clinical trials and speeding up diagnosis. As the Minister knows, we need to do better in both those areas, and we share the Government’s ambitions to do so. For our part, we will continue to play our role in opposition by scrutinising delivery closely to ensure that ambition is matched by action and that the Government’s very laudable commitments translate into tangible improvement on the ground for patients.

[Baroness Walmsley (LD)]

My Lords, from these Benches, we very much welcome the national cancer plan and support its ambitions—and it is very ambitious. Many organisations and committees have called for an integrated, long-term plan, so it is very good that the Government have listened and, in particular, have taken note of the views of patients and their families—the people with lived experience of all these problems. However, may I reiterate Cancer Research UK’s response to the plan? It said:

“The key question that patients and their loved ones will ask, however, is how quickly will they see progress in cancer survival and outcomes? The improvements they are waiting for will depend on how this plan translates into delivery. Funding must match the ambition of what has been promised, or the NHS will struggle to expand its diagnostic capacity or introduce innovation at scale. And clear leadership and accountability are also crucial”.


Many of those points have also been mentioned by the noble Earl, Lord Howe, just now.

We know that outcomes in England have lagged behind comparable countries for decades, so it is positive to see improving cancer survival at the centre of the plan. However, it is going to be tough to achieve and will require much faster progress than what we have heard so far indicates. The key, of course, is improved diagnosis at an early stage, so I welcome the renewed commitment to earlier diagnosis and to meeting all cancer waiting time targets by 2029. It is outrageous that 92% of trusts do not reach the target for starting treatment. I welcome the full rollout of lung screening by 2030 and increasing the sensitivity of the tests used in bowel screening by 2028. However, what about breast screening? There have been problems in some parts of the country in getting that done. Can the Minister say whether these plans will be fully resourced? There is no point in doing the screening and tests unless an expert is there to interpret them. There are bold promises, but will they be matched with the resources and training required?

The plan talks about AI tools and liquid biopsy tests, which could certainly hold real potential for increasing productivity. However, before they are introduced, they must be robustly tested so that only safe and effective innovations reach patients and those that do not work can be dropped.

While there is a focus on diagnosis and treatment, I was pleased to see that the plan includes a commitment to increase action on lifestyle factors which we know cause cancer. Smoking tobacco, being overweight or obese, alcohol and UV exposure still cause many cancers that could be prevented. Fortunately, the Tobacco and Vapes Bill should certainly have a positive effect over the coming years in stopping people smoking in the first place. It is also positive to see action to strengthen protections on sunbed use and measures to drive HPV vaccination uptake, particularly in underserved groups. The new ad hoc committee on childhood vaccine rates is, I hope, going to contribute to that.

More action is needed to drive the shift from sickness to prevention, which is one of the Government’s core objectives in their 10-year health plan. There is still more to do to help millions of existing smokers quit smoking and to prevent someone becoming overweight or obese in the first place. Tightening regulation on alcohol through introducing minimum unit pricing, as implemented in Scotland and Wales, was a missed opportunity. Will the Government reconsider?

Rare cancers make up about 24% of cancers diagnosed in the UK and the EU every year. This includes cancers of children and young people, because they are less likely to suffer from the cancers caused by the lifestyle issues I have just mentioned. This is where research comes in, and the ability to implement research findings into the NHS. It is a sad fact that the NHS has been slow in the past to implement new cutting-edge treatments, so it is welcome that the plan has some important commitments in that respect. However, as with other aspects of the plan, the devil is in the detail.

The focus on ending delays in cancer treatment is a step forward, but funding 28 new radiotherapy machines is not enough when the treatment is so cost-effective and successful. We need to end the radiotherapy deserts. Will the Minister extend her ambition to the 200 extra radiotherapy machines that the Liberal Democrats have proposed? Another 28 will probably only replace the old machines that need to be replaced anyway—it will not take us forward. Can the Minister tell us about the plan to train the operatives for these new machines? Resources, training and accountability are at the heart of this. We have not had a lot of detail yet, so I look forward to getting more.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health and Social Care (Baroness Merron) (Lab)]

My Lords, I am grateful for the warm welcome from both Front Benches for the national cancer plan. This is a moment when we transform our cancer care and we make it personalised—we wrap it around the person instead of expecting it to be the other way around. The 62-day treatment standard has not been met since 2015, and outcomes, as we have talked about a lot in this Chamber, continue to lag behind those of comparable countries. That is what has driven us to this point to ensure that, by 2035, three in four people diagnosed with cancer will be alive five years later, whereas at present, the figure is three in five. That represents 320,000 more lives saved, with all the effects on their friends, families and communities, as well as themselves. That will be the fastest improvement in cancer survival this country has ever seen.

I will try to deal with some of the Front-Bench questions. I agree with much of what has been raised, including the recognition of all those, including those with lived experience, who contributed to what is, in my view and experience, a very bold 10-year strategy that actually sets out how we will do this. Both the noble Earl, Lord Howe, and the noble Baroness, Lady Walmsley, asked about clear milestones. I am glad to say that those are set out at the end of each chapter, with dates and the responsible organisations for all key actions and commitments.

The noble Earl raised the workforce plan. It will be published in the spring and will set out guidance—this goes to the point raised by the noble Baroness—not just on expanding numbers but on ensuring that staff are properly trained and supported. This will require a multidisciplinary team approach. We will use training directly as a lever to prioritise training places in trusts, often in the rural and coastal areas that the noble Earl asked about, as it is indeed the case that vacancy rates are higher and performance is lower. Training doctors of course takes time, but this is about long-term sustainable change and about turning around the whole of the cancer pathway. It is the exact opposite of us tinkering here and there. We are working with the royal colleges to boost the numbers of doctors specialising in clinical and medical oncology.

The noble Earl asked about bringing NHS England into the department. I see that as a great opportunity. Within the plan, we have set out a reformed national cancer board. It will be comprised of cancer experts, and it will be accountable—this is so important, as the noble Baroness said—for the overall delivery of the plan. Regionally, we will keep and strengthen the role of cancer alliances, which will work hand in glove with NHS regions to deliver cancer improvements.

The noble Earl asked how young people are being engaged. We worked with the Children and Young People Cancer Taskforce to ensure their voices were heard through its patient experience panel. Importantly, we will appoint a lead for children and young people with cancer to be part of the revamped national cancer board. We want their voices to continue to be heard. We definitely recognise the distinction between children and young people; they have different needs. For example, the plan highlights the importance of play for children, as well as the role of youth support co-ordinators in providing educational, emotional and fertility support for teenagers and young people. I agree with the noble Earl that cancer has a profound psychological impact on all patients and those supporting them. The plan sets out how that support must be standardised for children and young people, including the provision of longer-term support.

The noble Baroness asked about improving early diagnosis. We are providing £2.3 billion of investment in diagnostics to deliver 9.5 million additional tests by 2029 across screening and symptomatic diagnosis. The noble Baroness asked about seeing change; I say go to a community diagnostic centre. That epitomises where we are going with our National Health Service. We will also spend more than £650 million to complete the rollout of lung cancer screening by 2030, which is one of the things that can make the biggest difference in more disadvantaged areas, as well in prevention.

On radiotherapy machines, the responsibility lies at a local level. We expect local systems to continue to invest in new machines to meet the ambitious targets. Through the spending review, providers have been allocated with £15 billion in operational capital for local priorities and £5 billion to support a return to constitutional standards, including for radiotherapy machines.

19:58

[Baroness Finlay of Llandaff (CB)]

My Lords, I must declare my interests in palliative care over the years. I will not list them all now, but I had the pleasure of working on the palliative care commission under the chairmanship of Sir Mike Richards. From speaking to him, I am glad to learn that he will have a role in the modern service framework.

My concern about chapter 4 is that action 7 seems to compound palliative care with end-of-life care. It does not recognise the benefit of someone receiving interventions early. It has been shown that patients benefit maximally from having at least three months of involvement with palliative care, rather than it coming in too little too late. Therefore, when we have integrated services in a cancer centre, time is allowed for a recurrence—when there is a crisis—to be dealt with immediately, rather than patients going home and being told, “Oh, you will see somebody later”. You have to be on the spot and you have to be available 24/7. I hope that there will be recognition that palliative care services save money.

I was glad to see that that the RIPEL study in Oxford was referred to. I ask the Minister whether she recognises the figures that have come from Hull York which show that, where you have fully integrated specialist palliative care services, you can save about £800 million a year by avoiding wasted interventions. I should declare an interest in that I have a young family member with an extremely rare cancer.

I also hope that the Minister will be able to provide reassurance that the speedy processes for modern and semi-experimental treatments will be available much more rapidly because, at the moment, many patients are having to pay privately through fundraising schemes because there are treatments that are emerging but are not yet available on the NHS.

[Baroness Merron (Lab)]

I am sorry to hear about the member of the noble Baroness’s family.

To the point about treatment, by 2028, every cancer patient will have access to a personal cancer care plan via the NHS app. Tailoring treatment and support through the whole care journey is important, including before the care journey starts. It will be a complete innovation that we are not talking about rehabilitation but what we are now calling “prehabilitation”, to support people.

We are also investing £80 million in four new NHS aseptic medicine production hubs, which will be operational by next year, to increase the supply of chemotherapy and immunotherapy, using advanced automation.

To the points about hospices and palliative care, for some, treatment is not enough; it is about the timely and proactive availability of palliative and end-of-life care. That is what is going to make the difference to their quality of life. We are working with the royal colleges to deliver enhanced levels of care, known as acute and supportive oncology, to consistent standards, and that will integrate palliative and end-of-life care while supporting clinicians to provide the best treatment. We are delivering the biggest investment in hospices in a generation—some £100 million to upgrade buildings, facilities and digital systems.

[Lord Bethell (Con)]

My Lords, I echo the praise of other noble Lords for the report. Professor Peter Johnson has done an enormously worthwhile job, and there is so much richness and so many good things in the report.

I will put a spotlight on the unfortunate framing that catching cancer is, largely speaking and for the majority of people, simply a matter of bad luck. The report says quite clearly, under prevention:

“As much as a third of cancers are preventable”.


That is a very conservative estimation of the proportion of cancers that are preventable. Modern analysis would point to systemically preventable exposure to multiple risk factors, which are entirely clustered around class. This framing is incredibly important, because it leads to consequential decisions in the Treasury, among health colleagues and in the rest of government about what we should and could be doing as a society and as a Government to try to reduce the prevalence of cancer.

In Europe, the European Code Against Cancer puts prevention absolutely at the centre of the cancer plan. In countries such as Malta, Portugal and Spain, cancer reduction is not seen as something that is relegated to a paragraph in the introduction: it is absolutely front and centre of the whole cancer plan. It embraces all of health.

The noble Baroness, Lady Walmsley, mentioned screening and vaccines, but it is a shame that those are not much more front and centre and that the Government’s ambitions are not greater. Where are the targets on things such as obesity and clean air? These are the kinds of things that one would expect to see built into a cancer plan. In terms of the “all of government” approach, where is taxation and the planning system, mentioned in the plan as important levers for reducing cancer?

The bad-luck attitude to cancer is an old-fashioned clinicians’ bias that is no longer supported by the epidemiology. So, I ask the Minister, first, is it possible to perhaps review the research framework that has led to that kind of understatement of the preventability of cancer? Coming out of that, secondly, I ask the Minister whether she could perhaps consider looking at a cancer prevention plan, as they have in other countries?

[Baroness Merron (Lab)]

I am grateful for the noble Lord’s support for the cancer plan. I should have mentioned this. I will be honest: even as a Minister, I do not always pay full attention to the foreword, and I am sure that other former Ministers might share that, within a plan, but I commend this one to noble Lords, not least because the Secretary of State himself talked about his own experience of being told he had kidney cancer. He described his world being turned upside down. He talked about fear and foreboding, as does our Minister, Ashley Dalton MP. They both talked about fear and foreboding and the need to turn that round with action. That kind of drive, as well as the facts before us, drive this plan.

On the point about a cancer prevention plan and the question of where the strategy is for the reduction of obesity and so on, I say that this is a plan to be read alongside our other commitments. It builds on the 10-year health plan, which laid out the way we would be going forward with our shifts. This is about turning round the whole cancer pathway.

To the point specifically about prevention, I heard what the noble Lord said. We do not take the view that it is “just bad luck”. Where there is prevention, we should absolutely tackle that.

The plan tackles the causes head-on, not just by talking but with government action to cut smoking with the Tobacco and Vapes Bill, reduce obesity, act on alcohol harm and protect people from dangerous UV exposure, including through sunbeds. No one should lose someone to cancer that should have been prevented. We will not ignore the communities that are hit hardest. By having those preventions, we are supporting the communities that are hit hardest. Rolling out lung cancer screening more extensively will be one of the areas of importance.

I referred earlier to cancer alliances. They will promote, for example, new catch-up schemes to enable young people who have missed out on the HPV vaccination at school. They can have it administered at their local pharmacy. We are not leaving matters to chance. We are rolling out home testing kits for cervical cancer for those who do not go to appointments for a range of reasons, rather than offering only one opportunity.

In all these ways, the national cancer plan tackles the causes of cancer. We will continue to see that through. As the noble Lord knows, moving from sickness to prevention is a key factor in our 10-year plan.

[Lord Patel (CB)]

My Lords, I too support the national cancer plan, but I am not here to blow the Government’s trumpet. I will pick up on some of the points.

This is an ambitious plan, and that is good, because it might act as a catalyst for some progress. However, if that progress is to be achieved, the Government need to commit much more than what the cancer plan suggests. The plan suggests:

“Every patient will get a personalised assessment of their needs and a personal cancer plan—a complete support plan complementing their diagnosis and treatment”


and focusing on their wider needs. It goes on to say:

“Every patient will have a named neighbourhood care lead to coordinate their care and support after treatment”.


If that can be achieved, it will be fantastic. Apart from all the technological advances that we will have to fund in research terms, it is ambitious to suggest that liquid blood tests and cancer vaccines could be developed, be tested and be available tomorrow. It could be a long-term shot. Without investment, that will not happen. One of the key areas of deficiency is that there is nothing on what the manpower requirements would be and how this will fit into the manpower plan that the Government already have.

I heard what the Minister said about prevention. I heard nothing about developing cancer centres; we know from experience that outcomes are best when patients are treated in cancer centres, rather than in every hospital in the country. We have no targets to eliminate cancer. For example, it is possible to eliminate cervical cancer by a proper immunisation programme of HPV vaccines.

I am allowed only to ask questions, but it would be nice to have a longer debate. We never had one on the national health plan either. I hope that could be managed somehow.

[Baroness Merron (Lab)]

That last point will, of course, be drawn to the attention of the usual channels. I too would welcome a debate on this. Noble Lords might wish to note that when they have an opportunity to suggest or apply for debates.

The noble Lord’s last point was about elimination of cancer. That is possible in some cases. I am glad that he mentioned cervical cancer. I mentioned in my answer to the noble Lord, Lord Bethell, that we have committed to catch-up HPV vaccination campaigns from this year, to eliminate cervical cancer by 2040. That is absolutely the right thing to do, and to introduce the Tobacco and Vapes Bill, which I hope will become an Act, to phase out smoking and reduce youth vaping, which can be a gateway to smoking. That will also reduce risk factors.

The noble Lord, Lord Patel, is always right to press us to go further. I understand that. This is a plan for the long term but with staging posts along the way. We have already made progress. For example, I was very pleased when we announced a trial called EDITH for breast cancer screening, to harness the benefits of AI, working with operatives for sped up and more accurate diagnoses. This is one example and is to the point that the noble Baroness, Lady Walmsley, raised about AI.

I hear what the noble Lord says about cancer centres. We are seeking to move treatment and diagnosis from hospitals to community. That is one model, but there are others, as the noble Lord would acknowledge. It is right to push us to go further, but what sets this plan apart is not just its level of ambition and its recognition that all is not right in the world but that it is setting out how we will get there. However, I welcome the transparency and leadership which is attached to this—which noble Lords have called for. This plan merits a lot of attention and support. I shall be pleased to discuss it in this Chamber further.

[Baroness Swinburne (Con)]

My Lords, I too recognise that this plan is a really good step forward in terms of the long-term plan for cancer sufferers. Many of our families have been touched by this awful disease, which is many and varied. However, I would like to focus on the innovation and research side of this, our speed of uptake within the NHS across the United Kingdom and how quickly, relative to other places in the world, we get some of the testing that is available out to our UK nationals.

A test called an Oncotype DX test, which is used to determine whether or not it is suitable for breast cancer sufferers to have chemotherapy, has recently been brought to my attention. In many cases, people can avoid chemotherapy if the test is actually telling the clinician that it is not necessary. In fact, the majority of patients with a particular type of breast cancer will not need chemotherapy, and that test will tell them and identify them.

The reality is that that test was available in the US from 2004. It was adopted by NICE in its guidelines in the UK in 2015. It is only now being widely adopted in the NHS across the whole country, rather than just in specialist teaching hospitals. That speed of adoption means that many people are actually having unfortunate treatment that they may not have required.

Therefore, I urge the Minister to look at how quickly we adopt these new genomic tests and how quickly we can actually improve that patient path for each and every patient. This was personalised medicine that was designed 20 years ago and we are only just starting to see it roll out nationally.

[Baroness Merron (Lab)]

The noble Baroness makes a very good point, particularly as we are in what I regard as a whole new area of scientific and technological advancement, and we have the chance to harness it.

In general terms, I can say to the noble Baroness that where, for example, there are regulatory problems with getting new treatments out there, we are working to remove all those blocks. That work is going on.

With regard to genomics, the plan does talk about routine genomic testing to match patients to targeted therapies and trials, and it also talks about investment in AI-guided radiotherapy, in cell therapy and in novel immunotherapies. There is also going to be the establishment of a cancer trial accelerator programme by next year, to increase trial access and speed.

My last point, which I hope will be helpful, is that six national research priorities are established, including early detection, mRNA vaccines, rare cancers and paediatric therapies. I take the point that the noble Baroness is making. The cancer plan addresses that, as well as seeking to remove blocks that should not be there.