Asked by: Lord Kamall (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have the necessary infrastructure in place to support the commitment in the National Cancer Plan to automatically contact patients with rare cancers to offer them the opportunity to be part of clinical trials through a tailored service; and if not, what the timeline is for delivering this commitment.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department is committed to ensuring that all patients, including those with a rare cancer, have access to cutting-edge clinical trials and innovative, lifesaving treatments.
As set out in our National Cancer Plan, the Government will implement the Rare Cancers Act, including Section 3 of the act which will involve developing a service to ensure rare cancer patients can be automatically contacted about clinical trials.
The Government is currently scoping the technical requirements for this service and identifying a suitable route for delivery, before a development project is commenced. This will allow data sharing across existing Department-funded infrastructure, namely the National Disease Registration Service and the National Institute for Health and Care Research’s Be Part of Research registry tool. The service is expected to be implemented within three years.
Implementing the provisions of the Rare Cancers Act will make it easier for clinical trials on rare cancers to take place in England.
Asked by: Lord Kamall (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government how much funding will be ring-fenced for research into rare cancers as part of the National Cancer Plan for England.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Government responsibility for delivering cancer research is shared between the Department of Health and Social Care, with research delivered by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, with research delivered via UK Research and Innovation.
Research is crucial in tackling cancer, which is why the Department invests over £1.8 billion each year on research through the NIHR. Cancer is one of NIHR’s largest areas of spend at over £141.6 million in 2024/25, reflecting its high priority.
It is not the usual process of the NIHR to ringfence funds for research into specific conditions.
The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health and care, including rare cancers. Our approach to funding research is through open and fair competition and peer review to ensure that the highest-quality proposals, most likely to deliver real impact for patients, are funded without imposing financial targets or limits.
Welcoming applications on rare cancers to all NIHR programmes enables maximum flexibility both in terms of amount of research funding a particular area can be awarded, and the type of research which can be funded.
Asked by: Lord Kamall (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the Department of Health and Social Care plans to collect data on the number of brain tumour patients receiving whole genome sequencing.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England is responsible for commissioning the NHS Genomic Medicine Service (GMS) which provides genomic testing in the National Health Service in England, through a network of seven NHS Genomic Laboratory Hubs (GLHs). The NHS GLHs deliver testing as directed by the National Genomic Test Directory, which includes tests for over 7,000 rare diseases and over 200 cancer clinical indications, including both whole genome sequencing (WGS) and non-WGS testing.
WGS for brain cancer is available under the National Genomic Test Directory under the GT1432 Test Code.
NHS England publishes testing activity and performance data through Patient Level Contract Monitoring data across all seven NHS GLHs on the NHS.UK website.
Asked by: Lord Kamall (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they collect data on (1) the number of clinical trials available to brain tumour patients, and (2) the number of brain tumour patients participating in clinical trials; and if not, whether they have plans to collect this data.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Yes, the Government does collect data on clinical research studies and numbers of participants through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Research Delivery Network’s Central Portfolio Management System.
This includes data on clinical trials supported by the NIHR Research Delivery Network’s portfolio, including clinical trials for brain tumours, and the number of participants recruited to those trials.
Asked by: Lord Kamall (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what was the total spend on medical devices on the Specialised Services Devices Programme list in 2025–26; and what was the total Specialised Services Devices Programme budget in 2025–26.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The total spend on medical devices on the Specialised Services Devices Programme list in 2025/26 was £1,093,622,000. The total budget for the Specialised Services Devices Programme in 2025/26 was £1,012,198,000. The forecasted spend on medical devices in the Specialised Services Devices Programme for 2026/27 is £1,212,135,000.
Asked by: Lord Kamall (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government how much they forecast to spend on medical devices in the Specialised Services Devices Programme in 2026–27.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The total spend on medical devices on the Specialised Services Devices Programme list in 2025/26 was £1,093,622,000. The total budget for the Specialised Services Devices Programme in 2025/26 was £1,012,198,000. The forecasted spend on medical devices in the Specialised Services Devices Programme for 2026/27 is £1,212,135,000.
Asked by: Lord Kamall (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether unspent allocations from the Primary Care Utilisation and Modernisation Fund may be carried forward into the next financial year; and, if this does not happen automatically, what process exists for underspends to be reprofiled or reallocated.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Funding for the Primary Care Utilisation and Modernisation Fund was agreed through the Spending Review. As such, capital allocations are set for each financial year and do not automatically carry forward into subsequent years.
Underspends cannot automatically be carried forward into the next financial year, with any residual underspends managed in line with normal departmental financial processes. The Department works with NHS England and local systems to ensure that delivery in the National Health Service continues to be maximised within the capital allocation for each year, delivering benefits for patients and the public and ensuring value for money for the taxpayer is achieved. This can include reviewing the profile of schemes to be delivered or completed across financial years.
Where there is a need to reprofile or adjust available spend between financial years, this must be considered and agreed with HM Treasury through the Supplementary Estimates process.
The Government has committed a further £426 million of utilisation and modernisation funding over the next four years. Up to half of this funding is being used to upgrade the existing local estate to deliver neighbourhood health centres as part of the 10-Year Health Plan. Half is being utilised for general practice upgrades, continuing on the investment made in 2025/26.
Asked by: Lord Kamall (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what will be the process in 2026–27 for allocating funding from the Primary Care Utilisation and Modernisation Fund to general practices which are not neighbourhood health centres.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government has committed £426 million over the next four years through the Utilisation and Modernisation Fund. Up to half of this funding is being used to upgrade the existing local estate to deliver neighbourhood health centres, as part of the 10-Year Health Plan. Half is being utilised for general practice (GP) surgery upgrades continuing on the investment made in 2025/26.
Systems have submitted their capital plans for the current Spending Review period 2026 to 2030, including proposals for half of the Utilisation and Modernisation Fund to be invested in GP surgery upgrades. The assessment of proposals by local regions has been completed and individual schemes are now submitting detailed schedules of works for rapid approval so work can commence.
Asked by: Lord Kamall (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of progress towards achieving the recommendation in the report from the Getting It Right First Time programme Renal Medicine, published in March 2021, that all renal centres should promote home dialysis for suitable patients and reach a minimum home dialysis rate of 20 per cent.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Progress is being made towards the ambition through NHS England’s Renal Services Transformation Programme and renal networks, which promote a “home‑first” approach and routine offering of home therapies.
Some regions have improved, with renal networks and regional specialised commissioners using UK Renal Registry data and regional dashboards to benchmark uptake, track progress, and target support in other areas. Increasing home dialysis uptake remains a core national priority.
Asked by: Lord Kamall (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of regional variation in home dialysis uptake between renal centres in England, including variation identified by the UK Renal Registry; and what steps they are taking to increase uptake in those areas with lower rates of home dialysis.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We recognise the regional variation in home dialysis uptake, as identified through UK Renal Registry data, reflecting differences in workforce, infrastructure, and local practice.
To address this, renal networks are using data dashboards to benchmark variation, supporting some centres to implement improvement plans, standardising pathways such as pre‑dialysis education and home set‑up processes, and sharing best practice from high‑performing “home‑first” models to improve equity of access.