Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether the 10-Year Cancer Plan for England will ensure that blood cancer patients receive the most optimal treatment, regardless of where they live.

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

The Government has been clear that there should be a national cancer plan, and we are now in discussions about what form it should take, including how we will ensure that cancer patients across England receive the most optimal treatment. We will develop and publish the 10-Year Health Plan before publishing a new national cancer plan, and will provide updates in due course.

It is a priority for the Government to support the National Health Service to diagnose cancer, including blood cancer, as early and quickly as possible, and to treat it faster, to improve outcomes for all patients across England.

The Department is committing to this by improving waiting times for cancer treatment, starting by delivering an extra 40,000 operations, scans, and appointments each week, to support faster diagnosis and access to treatment. In addition, NHS England has implemented non-specific symptom pathways for patients who present with non-specific symptoms, or combinations thereof, that can indicate several different cancers. This includes leukaemia, which can present non-specific symptoms, such as unexpected weight loss and night sweats. From NHS England’s national evaluation, blood cancers are one of the most common cancer types diagnosed through these pathways.

The Department is committed to implementing the recommendations of Lord O'Shaughnessy’s review into commercial clinical trials, making sure that the United Kingdom leads the world in clinical trials, and ensuring that innovative, lifesaving treatments are accessible to NHS patients, including those with blood cancer.

In September 2024, NHS England announced a new targeted treatment, Quizartinib, to be prescribed to newly diagnosed patients with a specific type of leukaemia, boosting their chance of remission and long-term survival, made available through NHS England’s Cancer Drugs Fund, which fast-tracks new innovative cancer treatments into standard care. This followed a previous announcement in August 2024, announcing the new treatment, Zanubrutini, for those with marginal zone lymphoma, which could halt the progression of their cancer and provide an alternative to further rounds of chemotherapy.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking steps to prioritise the use of cost and clinically effective cancer medicines that result in fewer patient visits to hospital.

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

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) makes recommendations on whether all new medicines, including cancer medicines, should be routinely funded by the National Health Service based on an assessment of their costs and benefits. The NHS in England is legally required to fund medicines recommended by the NICE, and cancer medicines are eligible for funding from the Cancer Drugs Fund from the point of positive draft NICE guidance.

In determining whether a medicine represents a clinically and cost effective use of NHS resources, the NICE takes into account the impact of new medicines on health outcomes and the health and care system, including where costs may be incurred and where savings may be realised.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of infusion capacity within the NHS for blood cancer treatments.

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

No assessment has been made of infusion capacity within the National Health Service for blood cancer treatments. However, it is a priority for the Government to support the NHS to diagnose and treat cancer, including blood cancer, as early and quickly as possible. The Department is committing to this by delivering an extra 40,000 operations, scans, and appointments each week, to support increased capacity.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure haemato-oncology services have the capacity to plan and adopt new innovations in the treatment of blood cancer.

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

The National Disease Registration Service, through the National Cancer Registration and Analysis Services, collects information on how many people in England have blood cancer, labelled as haematological neoplasms. This data supports service provision and commissioning in the National Health Service, clinical audits, and public health and epidemiological research, all of which contributes to improved outcomes for cancer patients, including blood cancer patients.

The Department is committed to implementing the recommendations of Lord O'Shaughnessy’s review into commercial clinical trials, making sure that the United Kingdom leads the world in clinical trials, and ensuring that innovative, lifesaving treatments are accessible to NHS patients, including those with blood cancer.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what information they have about the five Rwandan genocide suspects named in an extradition judgment and currently living in the UK.

Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)

I refer Lord Mendelsohn to UIN 249920 and UIN HL787, where similar questions were posed.

The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) War Crimes Unit is a dedicated specialist unit which investigates and prosecutes people living in the UK suspected of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity in line with universal jurisdiction and the CPS Counter Terrorism Division has the responsibility for prosecuting such crimes. Criminal investigations are an operational matter for law-enforcement agencies, and it would be inappropriate for me to comment any further.

I would invite Lord Mendelsohn to consider referring the second part of the question to the Attorney General and the Metropolitan Police for a response.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what explanations they have received from the police regarding the length of time taken to investigate the cases of the five suspected Rwandan war criminals currently living in the UK following the judgment in Government of Rwanda v Nteziryayo & Others [2017] EWHC 1912 (Admin), and what assessment they have made of the effectiveness of those police investigations.

Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)

I refer Lord Mendelsohn to UIN 249920 and UIN HL787, where similar questions were posed.

The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) War Crimes Unit is a dedicated specialist unit which investigates and prosecutes people living in the UK suspected of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity in line with universal jurisdiction and the CPS Counter Terrorism Division has the responsibility for prosecuting such crimes. Criminal investigations are an operational matter for law-enforcement agencies, and it would be inappropriate for me to comment any further.

I would invite Lord Mendelsohn to consider referring the second part of the question to the Attorney General and the Metropolitan Police for a response.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government on what date the Attorney General last received a briefing from the Metropolitan Police regarding the five Rwandan genocide suspects named in an extradition judgement and currently living in the UK.

Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)

We would invite you to consider referring this question to the Attorney General and the Metropolitan Police for a response.