Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to provide mental health support to patients with prostate cancer during and after treatment.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The 10-Year Health Plan sets out ambitious plans to boost mental health support across the country. The Government will transform mental health services into 24 hour a day, seven day a week neighbourhood mental health centres, improving assertive outreach and giving patients better access to support directly through the NHS App, including self-referral for talking therapies.
The forthcoming National Cancer Plan for England will seek to improve both the physical and mental health aspects of cancer care. The plan will have patients at its heart and will cover the entirety of the cancer pathway, from referral and earlier diagnosis to accessing treatment and ongoing care, and will apply to all cancer types, including prostate cancer.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the potential use of the supercomputer Isambard-AI in processing the medical scans of cancer patients.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The 10-Year Health Plan and the Life Sciences Sector Plan will help the National Health Service become the most artificial intelligence (AI) ready healthcare system in the world. While no assessment has yet been made of the potential use of Isambard-AI in processing the medical scans of cancer patients, the Government is fully committed to the ‘scan-pilot-scale’ approach set out in Matt Clifford’s AI Opportunities Action Plan published earlier this year, so that we can ensure AI is deployed in the critical areas where the technology can support better health outcomes.
The Government has already had success with the ‘scan-pilot-scale’ approach as part of the £113 million AI awards, which provided funding for a number of technologies that support cancer diagnosis. In addition, the £21 million AI diagnostic fund is supporting the deployment of technologies in key, high-demand areas such as chest x-ray and chest computed tomography scans to enable faster diagnosis and treatment of lung cancer in over half of acute trusts in England. Funding is being provided to 12 imaging networks, which cover 67 out of a total of 137 acute and specialist trusts across all seven regions of England.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of current eligibility guidelines of BRCA1 gene testing, and how testing allows early detection of heightened risk of prostate cancer.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Genomic testing in the National Health Service in England is delivered in line with the National Genomic Test Directory. The test directory outlines eligibility criteria and testing methods for over 200 cancer indications, including BRCA1 and BRCA2 testing for prostate cancer, and is regularly reviewed through an evidence-based process to ensure testing remains clinically relevant and cost-effective. Testing for BRCA1 and BRCA2 can help identify individuals at increased genetic risk of developing prostate cancer, enabling earlier and more targeted monitoring, diagnosis, and treatment. This supports timely clinical interventions and can improve outcomes for patients and their families. NHS England has also funded transformation projects through NHS Genomic Medicine Service (GMS) alliances, including one led by the East GMS Alliance focused on improving the prostate cancer pathway. This project focused on the genetic testing of prostate tumour tissue samples to better understand the causes and inform treatment decisions, while also identifying whether relatives may be at increased risk of cancers such as breast, ovarian, or prostate cancer.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to develop a campaign to encourage high-risk groups of men to be checked for prostate cancer.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department remains committed to supporting the National Health Service in raising the awareness of cancer symptoms and in diagnosing all cancer types earlier, including prostate cancer.
In January 2025, NHS England re-launched the Abdominal and urological symptoms of cancer phase of its Help Us Help You campaigns, to increase knowledge of cancer symptoms, including for prostate cancer, and to remove barriers to people visiting their general practitioner.
This year, the Department will publish a National Cancer Plan, which will include further details on how outcomes and experiences of cancer patients in England can be improved. It will cover earlier diagnosis and ensure that cancer patients have access to the latest treatments and technology and will ultimately bring this country’s cancer survival rates back up to the standards of the best in the world.
The Government is investing £16 million towards the Prostate Cancer UK-led TRANSFORM screening trial, which is seeking to find ways to detect prostate cancer in men as early as possible. The TRANSFORM trial will aim to address health inequalities by ensuring that one in ten of the participants are black men.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that training provided to civil servants through the Google partnership includes guidance on artificial intelligence bias, data ethics and accountability.
Answered by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
We have not yet agreed with Google as to how this training will be delivered but HMG will expect Google to adhere to the principles and standards in the Artificial Intelligence Playbook for the UK Government, published in February 2025.
Principles include: understanding AI and its limitations; and using AI lawfully, ethically, responsibly and securely. Specifically, the paper references training on ethical considerations, including bias mitigation and human oversight.
Additionally, the paper provides clear guidance on governance and oversight and that initiatives align with broader goals of societal benefit, ensuring that public trust is maintained and that AI contributes positively to public service.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure sufficient protections are in place to keep the public’s data private and secure following the announcement of partnerships between the Civil Service and technology companies.
Answered by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
All government departments must comply with UK Data Protection legislation when partnering with technology companies, as they remain the data controllers for the personal data they hold. Departments are responsible for ensuring their technology partners meet high standards in line with UK GDPR principles. Each department must appoint an adequately resourced Data Protection Officer (DPO) to assess partner compliance and advise on Data Protection Impact Assessments (DPIAs) to identify and mitigate risks.
The Government Digital Service (GDS) has published principles for securing personal data in government services, including actions departments must take to ensure compliance. These include robust commercial agreements, assigned liabilities, risk assessments, audits, monitoring, and oversight of data processing terms, along with seeking assurance from suppliers.
Additionally, the Government Security Group and GDS have introduced the Security by Design Policy, which sets out how departments should manage security risks arising from third-party technology products.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of Google's "Data Boundary" solution; and what steps they are taking to protect the privacy of their data held on Google Cloud.
Answered by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
His Majesty’s Government has not made a formal assessment of Google's "Data Boundary" solution. However, it remains committed to ensuring that public sector data is managed securely and in line with UK law and regulations, including the Data Protection Act 2018 and UK GDPR.
The responsibility of managing a department’s digital and IT infrastructure ultimately falls within each Department’s own purview. However, departments are mandated to follow the GDS Cloud First policy and multi-region guidance, using cloud services that provide flexibility, resilience, and robust data governance. Additionally, the NCSC’s Cyber Assessment Framework and the Government Functional Standard for security set out the principles and baseline controls for managing security risks, particularly for critical systems and sensitive data.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the BARCODE 1 study on the early detection of prostate cancer using saliva samples to identify high-risk patients.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government has invested £16 million in the £42 million, United Kingdom-wide TRANSFORM trial, led by Prostate Cancer UK, which aims to identify new ways of detecting prostate cancer at an earlier stage, including in men without symptoms. The BARCODE 1 study tests are being included in the TRANSFORM trial, and the UK National Screening Committee will be assessing the evidence that emerges from this trial as it is published.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the higher risk of prostate cancer in black men, and what steps they are taking to provide support to black men with a higher risk profile.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government understands that more needs to be done to improve outcomes for all people with prostate cancer, including black men, who we know are two to three times more likely to develop prostate cancer than white men.
To address disparities and find ways to better detect prostate cancer earlier, we have invested £16 million in the United Kingdom-wide TRANSFORM trial, aimed at helping to find the best ways of detecting prostate cancer in men, even if they are not displaying any symptoms. This research will aim to address some of the inequalities that exist in prostate cancer diagnosis by targeting black men in trial recruitment, ensuring that one in ten participants are black men. We have also asked the National Screening Committee to review the evidence for introducing prostate cancer screening, including for high-risk groups.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the cost of treating patients with prostate cancer that was not identified at an early stage; and what steps they are taking to improve early diagnosis.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department is committed to getting the National Health Service diagnosing prostate cancer earlier and treating it faster. In January 2025, NHS England re-launched its Abdominal and urological symptoms of cancer phase of the Help Us Help You campaigns to increase knowledge of cancer symptoms and address barriers to acting on them, to encourage people to come forward as soon as possible to see their general practitioner. The campaigns focus on a range of symptoms, including symptoms of urological cancers, as well as encouraging body awareness to help people spot symptoms across a wide range of cancers at an earlier point.
In addition, NHS England is streamlining cancer pathways. This includes the introduction of a best-practice timed pathway for prostate cancer so that those suspected of having prostate cancer receive a multi-parametric magnetic resonance imaging scan first, which ensures that only those men most at risk of having cancer undergo an invasive biopsy. For patients, the prostate best-practice timed pathway may reduce anxiety and uncertainty of a possible cancer diagnosis, with less time between referral and receiving the outcome of a diagnostic test.
A new National Cancer Plan will be published later this year which will include further details on how the NHS will improve outcomes for all cancer patients, including those with prostate cancer. The plan will set out actions for speeding up diagnosis and treatment.
Given the wide-ranging work being taken forward, the Department has not made a formal assessment of the specific cost of treating patients with prostate cancer that was not identified at an early stage.