Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the importance of prompt, large-scale molecular testing to the efficiency of commercial clinical trial recruitment, particularly in cancer; and of how prompt, large-scale molecular testing influences industry decisions on country prioritisation and site selection, in particular for late-phase trials conducted in England.

Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

As set out in the Life Sciences Sector Plan, the Government aims to double commercial interventional trial participants by 2026, and again by 2029.

Access to large-scale molecular testing will play a role in delivering against this aim, since molecular testing can identify patients with specific biomarkers and target them into clinical trials. More consistent and equitable genomic testing across England will encourage commercial sponsors to place their clinical trials at research sites in the United Kingdom.

To deliver this, we are embedding genomic testing as routine practice within the NHS Genomic Medicine Service and its workforce. This includes seven NHS Genomic Laboratory Hubs delivering comprehensive genomic testing and analysis, such as whole genome sequencing, as part of routine care. The Genomics Education Programme is responsible for upskilling the entire multi-professional, multi-specialty National Health Service workforce in genomics.

The Government also supports the Rare Cancers Private Members Bill. The bill will make it easier for clinical trials on brain cancer to take place in England, by ensuring that the patient population can be more easily contacted by researchers.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what proportion of health technology assessments submitted to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence in the past five years have related to cancer; and what assessment they have made of the importance of up-to-date national registry data to those evaluations.

Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

In the financial years 2021/22 to 2025/26, to date, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has made 429 technology appraisal recommendations. Of these appraisals, 218 relate to cancer medicines. The Department has not made any assessment of the importance of an up-to-date national registry on those evaluations. NICE works with companies and wider stakeholders throughout the appraisal process to ensure that its appraisals take into account the available evidence.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what is the current average time from test request to result for tests provided by NHS England's genomic medicine laboratories; and what assessment they have made of the impact of those turnaround times on patient access to appropriate treatment for (1) SOD1 testing in motor neurone disease, (2) germline BRCA1/2 testing in hereditary female cancers, and (3) homologous recombination deficiency testing in breast cancer and ovarian cancer.

Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

In December 2025, the average turnaround time for genomic tests processed through the NHS Genomic Laboratory Hubs were 42 days for the test code which includes SOD1 analysis for motor neuron disease, as well as other clinical indications, 37 to 42 days for germline BRCA1/2 testing, and 22 days for homologous recombination deficiency (HRD) testing for ovarian carcinomas. These are within the national targets of 42 days for the test code which includes SOD1 analysis for motor neuron disease and BRCA1/2 and 28 days for HRD, supporting timely clinical decision‑making. As genomic results directly inform treatment choices for motor neurone disease, hereditary female cancers, and ovarian carcinoma, maintaining these turnaround times is essential to ensuring patients can access appropriate therapies without delay.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the potential benefits of technology investments, including optical character recognition and natural language processing, to automate manual processes in clinical audit and registry submission across NHS England; whether businesses cases for that investment have been prepared; if so, in which disease areas or audit programmes those cases were prepared; and what were the outcomes of those cases.

Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

NHS England is exploring a range of functionality to automate manual data processes aligned to clinical improvement, including for our Outcomes & Registries Programme, National Disease Registration Service, frontline digitisation and the promotion and adoption of new technology across provider systems. Our central data and digital transformation business cases are primarily focused on the adoption of the technical capabilities and innovations, applicable in many areas, rather than focusing within specific individual audits or registries alone. Some business cases have been accepted and moved forward.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of (1) reports of registration delays in multiple national cancer audit "State of the Nation" reports produced within the National Cancer Audit Collaborating Centre, (2) the impact of such delays on cancer audits and cancer research, and (3) how such delays compare with pre-pandemic levels; and what steps they are taking to return cancer registration to a timely and accurate state.

Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Cancer incidence is continuing to rise, and cancer cases are becoming more complex to register as genomics plays a rapidly growing role. NHS England continues to manage the balance between timeliness, completeness and quality in cancer registration data.

The National Cancer Audit Collaborating Centre (NATCAN) audits use data from the National Cancer Registration Dataset (NCRD) for England, which is considered the ‘gold standard’ because it draws data from various sources.

The National Disease Registration Service (NDRS) is not aware of delays in relation to NDRS data releases to NATCAN. Recommendations from the audit have informed the development of the recently published National Cancer Plan. The plan includes the ambition to increase data transparency on the quality of care and improve performance to drive up standards across the country and reduce regional variation on outcomes.

We are committed to improve the quality and granularity of cancer data to support better outcomes for cancer patients.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether recording and visual arts studios will be included within the forthcoming business rates revaluation process; if so, how; and when this will be implemented.

Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)

The Valuation Office Agency independently value all non-domestic properties, including recording and visual arts studios, every three years at a revaluation.

We are reforming the business rates system by introducing permanently lower tax rates for over 750,000 retail, hospitality and leisure properties, funded by a higher rate on the most valuable properties. Where a recording studio forms part of a single property with a qualifying hospitality or retail business and the hospitality or retail aspect is the main purpose of the property, it will qualify for the lower multipliers.

Following concerns raised after the Budget, the Government has also launched a review of the methodology used to value both pubs and hotels for business rates purposes. As part of this, the Government will engage extensively with valuation experts, businesses and their representatives and will report in time for any decisions that follow to be implemented for the 2029 revaluation.