Bambos Charalambous

The Department remains committed to making improvements across different cancer types and to reducing disparities in cancer survival. Early cancer diagnosis is also a specific priority within the National Health Service’s wider Core20Plus5 approach to reducing healthcare inequalities.

The National Disease Registration Service (NDRS) in NHS England is the cancer registry for England and collects data on the diagnosis and treatment of cancer patients. The data collected captures a patient’s complete journey from referral, diagnosis, treatment, outcomes, experience, and survival. The data collected is used to inform trends and monitor and detect changes in health and disease in the population, including disparities in diagnosis. NDRS’s strategic priorities focus on making data more timely and accessible, and better understanding health inequalities.

Furthermore, the National Cancer Plan, to be published in the new year, will include further details on how we will use data to improve outcomes for cancer patients in England, including by driving earlier diagnosis and reducing the gap in early diagnosis between those living in the richest and poorest areas.

The Department invests over £1.6 billion each year on research through its research delivery arm, the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR).

An example of this is the NIHR investing £2.4 million into the miONCO-Dx trial, which seeks to develop a blood test designed to detect 12 different cancers, that could transform how cancer is diagnosed in the National Health Service.

The NIHR is also funding a new artificial intelligence (AI) powered radiology analysis service, designed to develop and evaluate the use of AI in medical imaging to improve the detection of cancers, including for lung and brain tumours. The use of this technology will help to speed up response times and provide more accurate diagnoses and better-targeted treatments, ultimately improving outcomes for patients.

The NIHR continues to welcome funding applications for research into any aspect of human health and care, including all cancers. These applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made on the basis of the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money, and scientific quality.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is the independent body responsible for developing authoritative, evidence-based recommendations for the Naitonal Health Service on whether new medicines represent a clinically and cost-effective use of resources. NICE aims, wherever possible, to issue guidance close to the time of licensing, and the NHS in England is legally required to fund medicines recommended by NICE, normally within three months of the publication of final guidance.

NICE has selected tofersen for treating amyotrophic lateral sclerosis caused by SOD1 gene mutations as a topic for guidance development through its Highly Specialised Technology (HST) programme. The HST programme appraises medicines for the treatment of very rare, and often very severe diseases, and evaluates whether they can be considered a clinically and cost-effective use of NHS resources. NICE is working with the company to confirm timelines for this evaluation.

The Department of Health and Social Care knows that the cost of travel is an important issue for many young cancer patients and their families in England. NHS England and the integrated care boards are responsible for commissioning and ensuring the healthcare needs of their local communities are met, including providing support for travel.

The National Health Service in England runs the Healthcare Travel Costs Scheme (HTCS) to provide financial assistance for travel to a hospital or other NHS premises for specialist NHS treatment or diagnostics tests, when referred by a doctor or other primary healthcare professional. Patients who do not qualify for the HTCS and who are on a low income may be able to claim the costs from the Department for Work and Pensions through Universal Credit or a Personal Independence Payment. There are also several charities in the United Kingdom who provide support, including financial support, for patients with cancer.

On 4 February 2025, the Department of Health and Social Care relaunched the Children and Young People Cancer Taskforce to identify tangible ways to improve outcomes and experiences for young cancer patients. The work of the taskforce is ongoing, and officials are exploring opportunities for improvement across a range of areas, including detection and diagnosis, genomic testing and treatment, research and innovation, and patient experience. The taskforce will also ensure that the unique needs of children and young people with cancer are carefully considered as part of the National Cancer Plan, which will include further details on how we will improve outcomes for children and young people with cancer in England.

The Department of Health and Social Care has not made a formal assessment of costs incurred by children and young people travelling to Principal Treatment Centres in London, the trends in levels of travel costs and the impact of this on young cancer patients missing appointments and delaying treatment. Young Lives vs Cancer is a valued stakeholder with a unique perspective on the issue of travel support for children and young people with cancer. The Department of Health and Social Care will continue to engage with Young Lives vs Cancer, as well as other children and young people cancer charity stakeholders as we progress this important work.

The Department of Health and Social Care knows that the cost of travel is an important issue for many young cancer patients and their families in England. NHS England and the integrated care boards are responsible for commissioning and ensuring the healthcare needs of their local communities are met, including providing support for travel.

The National Health Service in England runs the Healthcare Travel Costs Scheme (HTCS) to provide financial assistance for travel to a hospital or other NHS premises for specialist NHS treatment or diagnostics tests, when referred by a doctor or other primary healthcare professional. Patients who do not qualify for the HTCS and who are on a low income may be able to claim the costs from the Department for Work and Pensions through Universal Credit or a Personal Independence Payment. There are also several charities in the United Kingdom who provide support, including financial support, for patients with cancer.

On 4 February 2025, the Department of Health and Social Care relaunched the Children and Young People Cancer Taskforce to identify tangible ways to improve outcomes and experiences for young cancer patients. The work of the taskforce is ongoing, and officials are exploring opportunities for improvement across a range of areas, including detection and diagnosis, genomic testing and treatment, research and innovation, and patient experience. The taskforce will also ensure that the unique needs of children and young people with cancer are carefully considered as part of the National Cancer Plan, which will include further details on how we will improve outcomes for children and young people with cancer in England.

The Department of Health and Social Care has not made a formal assessment of costs incurred by children and young people travelling to Principal Treatment Centres in London, the trends in levels of travel costs and the impact of this on young cancer patients missing appointments and delaying treatment. Young Lives vs Cancer is a valued stakeholder with a unique perspective on the issue of travel support for children and young people with cancer. The Department of Health and Social Care will continue to engage with Young Lives vs Cancer, as well as other children and young people cancer charity stakeholders as we progress this important work.

We have delivered an additional two million appointments, seven months ahead of schedule. This includes operations, consultations, diagnostic tests, and treatments. These additional appointments have taken place across a number of specialities, including neurology.

Whilst no specific assessment has been made of how workforce shortages are impacting the delivery of care, there are a number of initiatives supporting service improvement and better care for patients with Parkinson’s disease in England, including the Getting It Right First Time Programme for Neurology, the RightCare Progressive Neurological Conditions Toolkit, and the Neurology Transformation Programme.

We have launched a 10-Year Health Plan to reform the National Health Service. The plan will set out a bold agenda to deliver on the three big shifts needed, to move healthcare from hospital to the community, from analogue to digital, and from treatment to prevention.

A central and core part of the 10-Year Health Plan will be our workforce and how we ensure we train and provide the staff, technology, and infrastructure the NHS needs to care for patients across our communities.

We have delivered an additional two million appointments in England, seven months ahead of schedule. This includes operations, consultations, diagnostic tests, and treatments. These additional appointments have taken place across a number of specialities, including neurology.

We have launched a 10-Year Health Plan to reform the National Health Service. The plan will set out a bold agenda to deliver on the three big shifts needed, to move healthcare from hospital to the community, from analogue to digital, and from treatment to prevention. A central and core part of the 10-Year Health Plan will be our workforce and how we ensure we train and provide the staff, technology, and infrastructure the NHS needs to care for patients, including for those with Parkinson’s, across our communities.

There are a number of initiatives supporting service improvement and better care for patients with Parkinson’s disease in England, including the Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT) Programme for Neurology, the RightCare Progressive Neurological Conditions Toolkit, and the Neurology Transformation Programme (NTP).

The GIRFT National Specialty Report made recommendations designed to improve services nationally and to support the NHS to deliver care more equitably across the country. The report highlighted differences in how services are delivered, and provided the opportunity to share successful initiatives between trusts to improve patient services nationally. In addition, the NTP has developed a model of integrated care for neurology services to support integrated care boards (ICBs) to deliver the right service, at the right time for all neurology patients, which includes providing care closer to home.

Once diagnosed, and with a management strategy in place, the majority of people with Parkinson’s can be cared for through routine access to primary and secondary care. NHS England commissions the specialised elements of Parkinson’s care that patients may receive from 27 neurology centres across England. Within these specialised centres, neurological multidisciplinary teams ensure patients can access a range of health professionals, including Parkinson’s disease nurses, psychologists, and allied health professionals such as dieticians and speech and language therapists, and that they can receive specialised treatment and support, according to their needs.

In addition, in February 2024, a new treatment for advanced-stage Parkinson’s, foslevodopa–foscarbidopa, was rolled out in the NHS. It has been shown to improve motor function, with patients experiencing longer periods of time without dyskinesia.

The NHS in England is legally required to make funding available for treatments recommended in National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) technology appraisal guidance. If there are any concerns with the availability of a NICE-recommended treatment in a particular area, they should be raised with the local ICB in the first instance.

We have delivered an additional two million appointments in England, seven months ahead of schedule. This includes operations, consultations, diagnostic tests, and treatments. These additional appointments have taken place across a number of specialities, including neurology.

We have launched a 10-Year Health Plan to reform the National Health Service. The plan will set out a bold agenda to deliver on the three big shifts needed, to move healthcare from hospital to the community, from analogue to digital, and from treatment to prevention. A central and core part of the 10-Year Health Plan will be our workforce and how we ensure we train and provide the staff, technology, and infrastructure the NHS needs to care for patients, including for those with Parkinson’s, across our communities.

There are a number of initiatives supporting service improvement and better care for patients with Parkinson’s disease in England, including the Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT) Programme for Neurology, the RightCare Progressive Neurological Conditions Toolkit, and the Neurology Transformation Programme (NTP).

The GIRFT National Specialty Report made recommendations designed to improve services nationally and to support the NHS to deliver care more equitably across the country. The report highlighted differences in how services are delivered, and provided the opportunity to share successful initiatives between trusts to improve patient services nationally. In addition, the NTP has developed a model of integrated care for neurology services to support integrated care boards (ICBs) to deliver the right service, at the right time for all neurology patients, which includes providing care closer to home.

Once diagnosed, and with a management strategy in place, the majority of people with Parkinson’s can be cared for through routine access to primary and secondary care. NHS England commissions the specialised elements of Parkinson’s care that patients may receive from 27 neurology centres across England. Within these specialised centres, neurological multidisciplinary teams ensure patients can access a range of health professionals, including Parkinson’s disease nurses, psychologists, and allied health professionals such as dieticians and speech and language therapists, and that they can receive specialised treatment and support, according to their needs.

In addition, in February 2024, a new treatment for advanced-stage Parkinson’s, foslevodopa–foscarbidopa, was rolled out in the NHS. It has been shown to improve motor function, with patients experiencing longer periods of time without dyskinesia.

The NHS in England is legally required to make funding available for treatments recommended in National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) technology appraisal guidance. If there are any concerns with the availability of a NICE-recommended treatment in a particular area, they should be raised with the local ICB in the first instance.

The Department is committed to maximising the United Kingdom’s potential to lead the world in clinical research and to ensuring that clinical trials are more accessible.

The Department funded National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) funds research and research infrastructure, which supports patients and the public to participate in high-quality research, including clinical trial participation for young people with cancer.

The NIHR has made research inclusion a condition of its funding. Applicants to domestic research programmes are required to demonstrate how inclusion is being built into all stages of the research lifecycle, and are also required to provide details of how their research contributes towards the NIHR’s mission to reduce health and care inequalities. Before the end of March 2026, this will also be required for global health research and infrastructure awards.

The Department is dedicated to ensuring that all children and young people with cancer have access to psychological support, to help them through their diagnosis and treatment.

NHS England has published service specifications that set out the service standards required of all providers of children and young people’s cancer services. The requirements include ensuring that every patient has access to specialist care and reducing physical, emotional, and psychological morbidity arising from the treatment for childhood cancer. Further information on NHS England’s published service specifications is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/commissioning/spec-services/npc-crg/group-b/b05/

Children and young people’s cancer care is managed by Principal Treatment Centres (PTCs) who ensure quality care. Each PTC has a multi-disciplinary team which meets at least weekly and includes a specific focus on the psychosocial needs of patients. The multi-disciplinary team ensures that each service user is assessed for psychological needs and can access any psychosocial support that is required.

We have delivered an additional two million appointments, seven months ahead of schedule. This includes operations, consultations, diagnostic tests, and treatments. These additional appointments have taken place across a number of specialities, including neurology.

Whilst no specific assessment has been made of how workforce shortages are impacting the delivery of care, there are a number of initiatives supporting service improvement and better care for patients with Parkinson’s disease in England, including the Getting It Right First Time Programme for Neurology, the RightCare Progressive Neurological Conditions Toolkit, and the Neurology Transformation Programme.

We have launched a 10-Year Health Plan to reform the National Health Service. The plan will set out a bold agenda to deliver on the three big shifts needed, to move healthcare from hospital to the community, from analogue to digital, and from treatment to prevention.

A central and core part of the 10-Year Health Plan will be our workforce and how we ensure we train and provide the staff, technology, and infrastructure the NHS needs to care for patients across our communities.

I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave on 25 March 2025 to the Hon. Member for Colne Valley, to Question 38920.

The Department is working hard with industry to help resolve intermittent supply issues with some epilepsy medications. As a result of ongoing activity and intensive work, including directing suppliers to expedite deliveries, some issues, including with some carbamazepine, lamotrigine, and oxcarbazepine presentations, have been resolved.

We are aware of an ongoing supply issue with all strengths of topiramate tablets, with the resupply date to be confirmed. Other manufacturers of topiramate tablets can meet the increased demand during this time.

The Department is aware of supply constraints with one supplier of amantadine 100 milligram capsules used in the management of Parkinson’s Disease, however stocks remain available from alternative suppliers to cover demand. The Department have also been notified of a discontinuation of apomorphine (APO-go PFS) 50 milligram/10 milligram pre-filled syringes from April 2025, used in the treatment of Parkinson's disease patients. Alternative formulations of apomorphine remain available for patients, and management guidance has been issued to the National Health Service.

The Department has also been working hard with industry and NHS England to help resolve the supply issues with some attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) medicines, which are affecting the United Kingdom and other countries around the world. As a result of intensive work, some issues have been resolved and all strengths of lisdexamfetamine, atomoxetine capsules, and guanfacine prolonged-release tablets are now available.

We are continuing to work to resolve the remaining issues for methylphenidate prolonged-release tablets. We are engaging with all suppliers of methylphenidate prolonged-release tablets to assess the challenges faced and their actions to address them. We are also directing suppliers to secure additional stocks, expedite deliveries where possible, and review plans to further build capacity to support continued growth in demand for the short and long-term. To improve supply and resilience, we are working with prospective new suppliers of methylphenidate prolonged-release tablets to expand the UK’s supplier base.

In collaboration with NHS England’s national ADHD data improvement plan, we plan to combine modelling for future growth forecasts, which will be shared with industry to improve demand forecasting for ADHD medicines.

It is vital that consumers have access to motor finance to enable them to spread the cost of a vehicle in a way that is manageable and affordable. We want to see this issue resolved in an efficient and orderly way that provides certainty for consumers and firms.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), as independent regulator, has set out its proposals for a motor finance redress scheme. In its consultation, the FCA has set out how it expects consumers to be appropriately redressed. The FCA also sets out proposals on how firms should support vulnerable consumers, and address any gaps in their records, and what controls should be in place to ensure they operate the scheme in a fair and transparent way.

Throughout the consultation period which closed on December 12, the government has encouraged all stakeholders to fully engage with the process so that their views can be considered by the FCA. The FCA has indicated it will finalise the rules of the scheme in February or March 2026.

It is vital that consumers have access to motor finance to enable them to spread the cost of a vehicle in a way that is manageable and affordable. We want to see this issue resolved in an efficient and orderly way that provides certainty for consumers and firms.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), as independent regulator, has set out its proposals for a motor finance redress scheme. In its consultation, the FCA has set out how it expects consumers to be appropriately redressed. The FCA also sets out proposals on how firms should support vulnerable consumers, and address any gaps in their records, and what controls should be in place to ensure they operate the scheme in a fair and transparent way.

Throughout the consultation period which closed on December 12, the government has encouraged all stakeholders to fully engage with the process so that their views can be considered by the FCA. The FCA has indicated it will finalise the rules of the scheme in February or March 2026.

The Government recognises the importance of access to cash and banking services for businesses and individuals, including those who may be in vulnerable groups or require assistance and is supportive of industry initiatives that improve access to these vital services.

The Post Office plays a key role in supporting access to banking services. Under the Banking Framework, a commercial agreement between the Post Office and 30 banking firms, personal and business customers can withdraw and deposit cash, check their balance, pay bills and cash cheques at 11,500 Post Office branches across the UK. The specific services provided under the Framework are subject to commercial negotiations between individual banks and the Post Office, and the Government has no role in deciding what these arrangements are.

The Government would welcome continued collaboration between Post Office and the banking sector, on a commercial basis and will look to host joint discussions with Post Office and the banking sector in the coming months.