Cancer Outcomes in the UK

Lord Taylor of Warwick Excerpts

Tuesday 21st April 2026 Grand Committee

[Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-Afl)]

My Lords, I also thank the noble Lord, Lord Patel, for securing this timely debate. One of the lessons of history is that, so often, we fail to learn the lessons of history. I say this particularly in relation to prostate cancer. It is the most diagnosed cancer in men aged over 45 in England. There are higher risks of prostate cancer linked to ageing, black men and family history. Early diagnosis is critical. Survival is nearly 100% when detected early, but it drops to around 50% at stage 4. Yet one in five men—that is 10,000 annually—is still diagnosed too late. Despite these earlier warning signs, there is still no UK-wide screening programme for prostate cancer.

This is a cancer that affects men from every social and professional class. Some of the most well-known names in the world have spoken of their prostate cancer diagnosis. Some of them are still with us; others are not. They include Robert De Niro, Warren Buffett, Colin Powell and Nelson Mandela. Closer to home, this cancer has affected Ian McKellen, Stephen Fry, Rod Stewart, Andrew and Julian Lloyd Webber, and, another knight of the realm, Chris Hoy. I mention these names because the fact that these famous men have been prepared to discuss their personal diagnosis has helped expose the need for more active screening.

Although prostate cancer is the most frequently diagnosed cancer among men in 112 nations, the testing procedures vary greatly from country to country. For example, some nations, such as Sweden, have trialled organised screening programmes involving PSA—prostate-specific antigen blood tests—and subsequent MRI, or magnetic resonance imaging, tests for men of a certain age. But America and Australia have elective individual decision-making approaches. My first question to the Minister is: what analysis of other nations’ prostate cancer treatment strategies are the Government carrying out? Have they come to any conclusions about the way forward for the United Kingdom? Organisations such as Prostate Cancer UK, Prostate Cancer Research and the British Association of Urological Surgeons all support the introduction of a screening programme. The Telegraph has been campaigning in recent months for men with the highest risk of the disease to be offered a test.

According to Prostate Cancer Research and Deloitte, targeted screening is not only life-saving but cost-effective. Their modelling shows that it could deliver a £14,000 net socioeconomic benefit for every high-risk man diagnosed. Bearing in mind the reluctance of some men to submit themselves to rectal examinations, what assessment have the Government made of the BARCODE 1 study on the early detection of prostate cancer using saliva samples to identify high-risk patients? I am pleased that the UK National Screening Committee has now recommended national screening for men aged 45 to 61 with certain confirmed gene mutations, but when will it next be considering whether to extend this to other men at risk of prostate cancer?

As for cancer more generally, NHS England has advised caution when making comparisons between historic and latest available data on cancer. This is because cancer registrations in England can take up to five years after the end of a given calendar year to reach 100% completeness due to continuing late registrations. If we cannot get the data right, how can we have confidence in the information being provided? Additionally, diagnoses of cancer are registered for each separate cancer, so this means that a person diagnosed with more than one type of cancer would appear more than once in the total data. As the noble Lord, Lord Kakkar, said, data is vital. I am a vice-chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Artificial Intelligence. Can the Minister indicate what plans there are to improve medical data collection, because this is key, perhaps by using more AI technology? Also, what plans do the Government have to invest more in AI and robotics to help spot cancers earlier and increase access to innovative cancer treatments as soon as they become available?

Regarding international comparisons, the UK has lagged behind other countries on mortality rates. According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development—OECD—data on deaths from cancer in developed countries showed that we presently rank 26th out of 36 countries for cancer mortality rates. It is against that background that I welcome the Government’s publication on 4 February of this year of their 10-year National Cancer Plan for England, but I note that some cancer and public health academics have been critical. For example, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine has raised concerns with the plan’s delivery model, arguing that it lacks clarity on what additional resources and leadership capacity would be required to achieve its ambitious goals.

A relevant issue is the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill. An important factor in end-of-life management is palliative care and pain relief, yet in the UK some independent hospices rely on charity to fund up to 70% of their costs. The quality of palliative care is very much a postcode lottery. Will the Government consider putting more funding into palliative care?

The good thing is that, on average, we are all living longer, but our life should be measured on its quality, not only on its length. So much of cancer care depends on the power of the purse, but we also need more emphasis on prevention and early detection. As the saying goes, cancer can be a dark place to be in, but we can bring light.

[Baroness Redfern (Con)]

My Lords, it is a privilege to have the opportunity to contribute to this important debate regarding improving cancer outcomes and diagnostic care and research. I congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Patel, on securing it.

I shall first concentrate on the importance of early diagnosis, which, as we are all aware, can and does improve cancer outcomes. I note that in the 12 months to September 2025, early diagnosis rates were 3.5 percentage points above the pre-pandemic level, equating to around 10,000 more people being diagnosed at stages 1 and 2.

I also welcome the commitment to reducing the significant number of rare and less survivable cancers that are diagnosed in an emergency setting. I specifically mention children and young people whose cancers are often more aggressive and faster growing, and which require specialist intervention to ensure that the right treatment is given at the right time in the right place.

When patients receive a cancer diagnosis, everything is fluid and seems uncontrollable. They are desperate for treatment to begin but, all too often, patients living in rural and coastal communities have longer waiting times for a preliminarily diagnosis. As research shows, for some cancers, a four-week delay in starting treatment increases the risk of death by 10%.

All sides of this Room desperately want to see clear improvements in cancer survival and outcomes, so this plan has to demonstrate commitment to a detailed trajectory for improvement against real-time scale settings.

I will also focus on radiotherapy. I very much welcome more diagnostic centres with more community diagnostic centres being opened on evenings and weekends, and investments in 28 cutting-edge radiotherapy machines engaging in a more fluid process. But the crux of the matter is that we urgently need many more radiographers. This would make it easier for radiotherapy centres to use cutting-edge, stereotactic ablative radiotherapy, which is crucial to so many patients. An end of radiotherapy deserts is what we all want to see.

The national figure for access to radiotherapy is 53%, which does not seem particularly high in itself. However, compare this figure to that in my area, Yorkshire and the Humber region: it is 35%, which cannot be fair. Improved data transparency on the quality of care and performance of trusts’ cancer outcomes should not be dependent on someone’s location in the country, so much more work is required to bring postcode lotteries to an end.

Targets in the plan are also welcomed but, if they are to be met, there is a need for workforce expansion, especially in radiology and clinical nurse specialists. The radiotherapy workforce stands at approximately 6,400, with a 15% vacancy rate for clinical oncologists and a 10% vacancy rate for therapeutic radiographers and healthcare science workers. We also need improved training and pathways into oncology and radiotherapy specifically.

The withdrawal of the previously agreed £15.5 million to support the implementation of AI auto-contouring across England was a damaging blow to progress in radiotherapy, as this software can reduce the planning process, saving consultants lots of precious time. It is estimated that there are at least 22 machines currently operational past the 10-year recommended lifespan and, by the end of 2026, that increases by an additional 27, so the need for a rolling programme of machine replacement is very clear. It is urgently required.

Finally, more outlining of operational details and milestones is required to deliver these cancer ambitions. As many others do, I look forward to future early diagnosis in this field, which will fundamentally improve outcomes for all cancer patients, wherever they live. I look forward to the Minister’s response.

Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill

Lord Taylor of Warwick Excerpts

2nd reading
Friday 19th September 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-Afl)]

My Lords, I found the dignified words of my noble friend Lord Shinkwin to be most powerful and persuasive. He used the phrase “Pandora’s box”, and I too oppose this Bill.

It is said that one of the lessons of history is that we do not learn lessons from history, so we must learn lessons from the history of this important matter. One can only have compassion for those who are in so much pain and suffering that they wish to end their lives, but supporters of this Bill say that this is a matter of choice. I question that, because assisted dying would not be a real choice if the alternative option of high-quality end-of-life palliative care is not available.

This Bill is based on assessing someone as being within six months of natural death, but such a prognosis is often unreliable. I still recall that awful time when a hospital doctor asked for my permission to turn off the machine that was basically keeping my mother alive. I was aware of the fact that her church and her family were praying for her, so I said no. The doctor said, “Well, that is your choice”. She went on to live for several years longer, enjoying her family, and in particular her grandchildren. As that doctor said to me some years later, “Wow: it was a miracle. There must be power in prayer”. I said, “Yes, that’s right”. Those who accept a time limit of six months now to get the Bill passed could come back again in a few years’ time to shorten or even remove a time limit.

I believe that this Bill lacks genuine safeguards for vulnerable people. There is no longer judicial oversight, namely, that a High Court judge should approve assisted suicide. I use the word “suicide” not to cause offence, but because this is really what it is. The original key safeguard has been replaced. Psychiatrists and social workers, who are to be included in the panel system, have warned that there are not enough of them to fill this role.

Unfortunately, there are very well-meaning and experienced social workers who miss the abuse of children and babies, and yet this Bill seeks to put even more pressure on that profession. Evidence from countries where assisted suicide is legal and available, such as Canada, New Zealand and the Netherlands, indicates that there is likely to be a move from assisted suicide for the terminally ill only, to those with other health conditions.

The National Health Service is already under huge pressure, struggling to meet targets. This Bill would put even more pressure on the NHS at precisely the wrong time. As the Health Secretary Wes Streeting MP has said:

“If parliament chooses to go ahead with assisted dying, it is making a choice that this is an area to prioritise for investment”.


These choices would come at the expense of other choices. Surely the investment should be in better palliative care for the terminally ill in hospices or care homes, ensuring a better quality of life in the last years, months or days.

In the Bible there were five characters in particular who contemplated suicide: Hannah, Elijah, Job, David and Jonah. But in each case, even during the anguish of their suffering, they eventually found that the God who created them gave them a reason to continue living until the natural time for their death. I oppose this Bill. The first duty of government is to protect its people, not to give the state licence to kill its people.

Prostate Cancer

Lord Taylor of Warwick Excerpts

Wednesday 3rd September 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-Afl)]

My Lords, I thank the noble Lord, Lord Mott, for securing this important debate. One of the lessons of history is that we do not learn lessons from history, and we must not ignore the historical facts. First, prostate cancer is the most diagnosed cancer in men aged over 45 in England. Secondly, there are higher risks of prostate cancer linked to ageing, black men and family history. Thirdly, early diagnosis is critical. Survival is nearly 100% when detected early but drops to around 50% at stage 4. Yet one in five men—that is 10,000 annually—is still diagnosed too late. Fourthly, despite these facts and earlier warning signs, there is still no UK-wide screening programme. So my first question of the Minister is: what analysis of other nations’ prostate cancer treatment is the Government carrying out, and have they come to any conclusions as to the way forward for the UK?

Next, will the Minister set out what action the Government will take to ensure that higher-risk men who request a PSA test are never refused, in line with current policy? What conclusions have the Government reached as to the most effective method of PSA screening as a result of the TRANSFORM trial launched in May of last year? Bearing in mind the reluctance of some men to submit themselves to rectal examinations, what assessment have the Government made of the BARCODE 1 study on the early detection of prostate cancer using saliva samples to identify high-risk patients? Lastly, when will the UK National Screening Committee announce the conclusions and recommendations of the TRANSFORM trial? A national screening programme for men at high risk of prostate cancer is long overdue. National screening will radically improve the fate of prostate before it is too late.

Health: Brain Tumours

Lord Taylor of Warwick Excerpts

Tuesday 19th January 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bethell (Con)]

The noble Lord is right: it is extremely complex and one of the challenges we have is that the basic science needed to guide research is an unpredictable and difficult-to-manage process. That is why I have invited representatives of patient groups to try to guide the basic scientific research so that the talented cancer researchers who are available, who can do the more operational and applicable elements of the research, will have the material necessary to get on with their job.

[Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-Afl) [V]]

My Lords, it is arguable that, of all the human organs, the brain is the main. People from the black community are nearly three times more likely to develop pituitary tumours at the base of the brain than their white counterparts. The reasons for this disparity are still not clear. Will the Government commit to encouraging further research into this issue? Also, only 14% of UK spending on brain tumour research is from the Government; the remaining 86% is from the charity sector. Although more money is not the total answer, will the Government commit to more funding for this vital area of research?

[Lord Bethell (Con)]

My Lords, £40 million was announced in May 2018 for brain tumour research. To date, £9.3 million has been committed and £5.5 million will be committed from April 2018 to 2023. At this stage, as the noble Lord, Lord Hunt, alluded to, the allocation of budget is not the issue. Making sure that the pipeline of applicable research is in place is our challenge. That is why we have worked well with interested parties to put together a plan for trying to ginger along the basic science necessary to get those research projects activated.

Covid-19: Transparency and Accuracy of Statistics

Lord Taylor of Warwick Excerpts

Monday 9th November 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bethell (Con)]

I will take on board the comments of the noble Lord. We try to make our briefings as accessible as possible. The point he made is perfectly reasonable. Let me look into whether there is more we could be doing and talk to the stakeholders involved about whether we should be doing more.

[Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-Afl)]

Data should always make trust greater. Covid-19 appears to have more of an effect on BAME communities than their white counterparts. What further research are the Government carrying out in relation to the data to find out the reasons why?

[Lord Bethell (Con)]

The noble Lord is entirely right. The concerns we have for disadvantaged groups and those of an ethnic background are deep and sincere. That is why we have a large programme of work, sponsored by the NIHR, looking into a variety of different research projects to understand the behaviour of the virus and why it hits certain groups particularly hard.

Covid-19

Lord Taylor of Warwick Excerpts

Thursday 3rd September 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bethell (Con)]

My Lords, massive pressure is on the NHS from every level to get back to normal. Attendance rates are increasing dramatically in every area of the NHS. I pay tribute to those who have gone through enormous hoops to create safe and protected protocols to have people back in the system, but I cannot hide from my noble friend the fact that the health system will not be the same, going forward. We will have to change our approach to infection control and hygiene and have face-to-face contact in a completely different way. It makes no sense for lots of ill people to congregate in a GP surgery and to spread their disease among one another. We have to rethink the way we did our healthcare in the past in order to protect healthcare workers and patients from each other’s infections and to afford a sustainable healthcare system that can afford to look after everyone.

[Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-Afl)]

My Lords, one in five NHS staff is from black and ethnic-minority communities, yet six out of every 10 UK health workers killed by Covid-19 have been BAME. What progress are the Government making in urgently finding out why so many BAME health workers have been so vulnerable, even to the point of losing their lives in the cause of serving others?

[Lord Bethell (Con)]

The noble Lord is entirely right to raise the terrible statistics on BAME health workers. It is not conclusively understood why the numbers are as dramatic as he articulated. I am afraid we are still speculating, and a huge amount of work is being undertaken by PHE in this area to understand it better. Some of it is because BAME front-line workers selflessly put themselves in harm’s way in environments where there are higher risks, despite the extraordinary efforts of trusts and CCGs to protect them. Part of it is the living arrangements and part is the behavioural arrangements. These things are explicitly explained in the PHE report, but it is a matter of huge concern. Trusts and CCGs have been urged to put risk-management practices in place according to local needs and arrangements, and the numbers have changed as a result of these policies.

National Health Service

Lord Taylor of Warwick Excerpts

Thursday 14th January 2016 Lords Chamber

[Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-Afl)]

My Lords, I, too, thank the noble Lord, Lord Turnberg, for securing this debate. He and other noble Lords have spoken with much wisdom, expertise and experience. My only qualification in this area may be that I was a board member of the North West Thames Regional Health Authority, a member of the Solihull Family Practitioner Committee and a board member of SCAR, the Sickle Cell Anaemia Relief charity.

As a schoolboy, I attended a university open day as a precursor to studying for a medical degree. I recall that we had to walk through a laboratory where some experiments were being carried out on dead bodies donated for research. It is still vivid in my memory. I passed one corpse that had been drained of all body fluids and dissected lengthways, so that I was looking at a half-body. I recalled that in the Bible Lazarus had been raised from the dead, but I thought to myself, “But that Lazarus was not cut in half; this guy is going nowhere”. I decided at that point that medicine is a special calling, and perhaps it was not calling me. So I have every admiration for members of the medical profession. I just hope that the BMA and the Government can reach an agreement. With the prospect of two further doctors’ strikes, it is surely the patients who will suffer.

It is said that some 40% of diseases are related to lifestyle. Smoking and alcohol abuse are major problems. As the saying goes, Bacchus has drowned more men than Neptune. We need an effective national plan for preventable illness, otherwise the impact of lifestyle-related diseases and longer lifespans will put even greater strain on resources. This may have to be a part of an open, independent inquiry or commission charting the way forward, as the noble Lord, Lord Fowler, stated. It could include an international comparison of the way that other countries deal with these issues, especially the means of funding the service. The inquiry needs to examine a more holistic approach to health, involving health promotion, sickness prevention, mental illness and social care. We have excellent health foundations, such as the Nuffield Trust and the King’s Fund, that can help with this.

The third Gospel was written by Luke, who was a doctor of medicine, but, as a Greek, he was a non-Jew, a foreigner. I mention that to highlight the tremendous contribution made by ethnic minorities to our NHS. Some 37% of doctors and 27% of nurses are from black and minority ethnic backgrounds. In London, 40% of the NHS workforce are from BME communities.

In my student days, my idea of a balanced meal was a biscuit in each hand. Since then, I have had to learn the value of healthy nutrition and exercise. There is nothing permanent in life except change, and there has to be change in our approach to the NHS in order for it to meet its present and future demands. As John F Kennedy once said, our task now is not to fix the blame for the past but to fix the course for the future.

Healthcare: Costs

Lord Taylor of Warwick Excerpts

Monday 15th November 2010 Lords Chamber

Asked By

[Lord Taylor of Warwick]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what actions they are taking to control rises in health care costs.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health (Earl Howe)]

My Lords, the Government have guaranteed that health spending will increase in real terms in each year of the Parliament. However, in order to meet rapidly rising demands while improving quality, substantial improvements in economy and efficiency will be required across all areas of health spending. This response is best led by the NHS locally, while the centre will focus on reforming the health service to create a long-term sustainable NHS.

[Lord Taylor of Warwick]

My Lords, I thank the Minister for his reply. Does he agree with me that putting more funding now into research into terrible conditions such as dementia, in which I include Alzheimer’s disease—for which there is no cure—will ultimately bring down healthcare costs? We must find a cure, and I ask the Minister to commit more research funding to the terrible condition of dementia.

[Earl Howe]

My Lords, my noble friend is quite right to identify dementia as a particular cost pressure over the next few years. The coalition Government signalled in their programme our intention to prioritise funding for dementia research. The spending review confirmed that and committed to real-terms increases in spending on health research. This investment is indeed essential if we are to increase the quality, productivity and cost-effectiveness of the NHS.