Asked by: Calvin Bailey (Labour - Leyton and Wanstead)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of the article entitled European Study of Prostate Cancer Screening - 23 Year Follow-up published in the New England Journal of Medicine on 29 October 2025; and if he will ensure that this research is considered as part of the UK National Screening Committee’s review of prostate cancer screening options.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The article European Study of Prostate Cancer Screening – 23 Year Follow-up was published after the UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) completed its formal modelling report as part of its evidence review into prostate cancer screening.
However, given that it is a peer-reviewed update to one of only two large-scale prostate cancer screening trials, the UK NSC Secretariat has checked the key results of this research against the UK NSC’s evidence review.
Asked by: Calvin Bailey (Labour - Leyton and Wanstead)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate the UK Health Security Agency has made of the number of people who died from wildfire smoke in each of the last ten years.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has not made any estimates of deaths attributable to wildfire smoke in the United Kingdom in each of the last ten years.
Whilst there is extensive evidence of health impacts from other countries linked to wildfires, there is relatively limited, but growing, evidence specific to the UK. The UKHSA monitors the broader impact of ambient air pollution on mortality in the UK.
Asked by: Calvin Bailey (Labour - Leyton and Wanstead)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential implications for his policies of the evidence presented in Prostate Cancer Research’s report entitled Prostate Cancer Screening: The Impact on the NHS, on targeted prostate cancer screening for high-risk men; and if he will ensure that this is considered as part of the UK National Screening Committee’s review of prostate cancer screening options.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.
Asked by: Calvin Bailey (Labour - Leyton and Wanstead)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the oral contribution of the Minister of State for Health and Social Care on 17 June 2025, Official Report col 352, what his planned timescale is for a decision of the NHS England Clinical Priorities Advisory Group in relation to commissioning of abiraterone acetate plus prednisone for hormone-sensitive non-metastatic prostate cancer, following the sharing of updated cost impact modelling from Prostate Cancer UK.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
In regard to funding for abiraterone specifically, abiraterone is not licensed for use in the treatment of high-risk, non-metastatic hormone-sensitive prostate cancer, and as such cannot be evaluated by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) for routine use on the National Health Service. NICE makes recommendations for the NHS in England on the vast majority of new medicines and significant licence indications for existing medicines, but does not evaluate medicines that are used outside their marketing authorisations or “off-label”.
Funding decisions for off-label medicines are the responsibility of NHS commissioners, who are required to make decisions on the basis of the available evidence. For cancer medicines, NHS England is the responsible commissioner and has an established mechanism to do so through its clinical prioritisation process. NHS England considered abiraterone as an off-label treatment for the treatment of hormone sensitive, non-metastatic prostate cancer through its clinical policy development process in 2024/25. Through this process, NHS England confirmed that there was sufficient supporting evidence to support the routine commissioning of abiraterone in this indication and it was ranked as the top priority for routine commissioning. However, NHS England has not been able to identify the necessary recurrent funding to support the commissioning of abiraterone, or any other treatments within the prioritisation round. This position in being kept under review and will be progressed as soon as recurrent funding is identified.
This position takes into account the need to ensure the affordability of introducing any new routine commissioning policies, alongside maintaining existing services for patients, and of meeting their legal requirement to fund all NICE approved drugs. Abiraterone for the treatment of high-risk, hormone sensitive, non-metastatic prostate cancer remains the top priority for routine commissioning.
Asked by: Calvin Bailey (Labour - Leyton and Wanstead)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department is taking steps to publish a children’s health workforce plan.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to raising the healthiest generation of children ever. Ensuring that there is a robust children’s health workforce will be an essential component to delivering on this ambition.
We will publish a 10 Year Workforce Plan to create a workforce ready to deliver a transformed service, including the children’s health workforce. It will be more empowered, more flexible and more fulfilled. The 10 Year Workforce Plan will ensure the National Health service has the right people in the right places, with the right skills to care for patients, including children, when they need it. There are no plans to publish a separate children’s health workforce plan.
Asked by: Calvin Bailey (Labour - Leyton and Wanstead)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the Play well toolkit on children's health.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to raising the healthiest generation of children ever, which includes ensuring that children receive the appropriate care and support whenever they need it.
We know that play is a vital part of childhood and health play services help build social-skills, support children’s wellbeing and improve outcomes. To ensure that children’s right to play is supported in healthcare settings, NHS England and Starlight, a national charity for children’s play in healthcare, co-published the Play Well Toolkit. NHS England encourages the use of this toolkit by managers of health play services across a wide range of healthcare environments accessed by children and young people. The Toolkit includes a checklist to support the auditing, monitoring, and evaluation of services.
Asked by: Calvin Bailey (Labour - Leyton and Wanstead)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of launching a prostate cancer awareness campaign for people at high risk of prostate cancer through his forthcoming National Cancer Plan.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government understands that more needs to be done to improve outcomes for people at high risk of prostate cancer.
NHS England runs Help Us Help You campaigns to increase knowledge of cancer symptoms and to address the 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, as well as encouraging body awareness to help people spot symptoms across a wide range of cancers at an earlier point.
The Department continues to advise patients to follow National Health Service guidance on signs and symptoms of several types of cancer, including prostate cancer. This advice is available publicly on the NHS.UK website, at the following link:
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/prostate-cancer/
The forthcoming National Cancer Plan for England is in development and will include further details on how we will improve diagnostics, access to treatments, and outcomes for all tumour types, including prostate cancer. As such, the Department has no current plans for a separate assessment of the merits of a prostate awareness campaign.
Asked by: Calvin Bailey (Labour - Leyton and Wanstead)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what information his Department holds on the number and proportion of prostate cancer cases that had presented with stage 4 metastatic disease at first diagnosis in Leyton and Wanstead constituency in the most recent year that data are available.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department does not have specific data for Leyton and Wanstead. However, we can provide diagnosis data at an integrated care board (ICB) level. Specifically, we can offer information on diagnoses at stages 3 and 4 for the North-East London ICB. In 2022, 400 men were diagnosed with stage 3 or stage 4 conditions within the NHS North East London ICB.
Asked by: Calvin Bailey (Labour - Leyton and Wanstead)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent discussions he has had with the National Screening Committee on the evidence that will be used to inform the criteria for a prostate cancer screening programme.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) is an independent scientific advisory committee which advises ministers and the National Health Service in all four countries of the United Kingdom on all aspects of population and targeted screening, and supports implementation. It uses research evidence, pilot programmes, economic evaluation, expert stakeholders, and consultation to assess the evidence for national screening programmes against a set of internationally recognised criteria covering the condition, the test, the treatment options, and the effectiveness, ethics, and acceptability of the screening programme.
My Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has been appraised of the UK NSC’s evidence review for prostate cancer screening which is currently underway. This will cover modelling the clinical effectiveness and cost of several approaches to prostate cancer screening. This will include different potential ways of screening the whole population as well as targeted screening aimed at groups of people identified as being at higher than average risk, such as black men or men with a family history of cancer.
Once the modelling and evidence review are complete it will be considered by the UK NSC. Subject to no further revisions being required, the UK NSC plans to hold a public consultation towards the end of 2025. After this, the UK NSC will make a recommendation. Ministers will then be asked to consider whether to accept the recommendation.
Asked by: Calvin Bailey (Labour - Leyton and Wanstead)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of recent trends in levels of prostate cancer diagnoses; and what steps he plans to take to support (a) equitable access and (b) high-quality treatment strategies for people with prostate cancer.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department is committed to improving the adequacy of all cancer services, including for prostate cancer. NHS England has funded 10 clinical audits, which includes a national prostate cancer audit. Using routine data, collected on patients diagnosed with cancer in a National Health Service setting, the audit is looking at what is being done well, where it’s being done well, and what needs to be done better. This will seek to reduce unwarranted variation in treatment and reduce inequalities across different groups. 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 find the best ways of detecting prostate cancer in men, even if they are not displaying any symptoms.
The Government recognises that a cancer-specific approach is needed to meet the challenges in cancer care, and to improve all cancer services and outcomes for people living with cancer, including those with prostate cancer. Following publication of the 10-Year Health Plan, we will publish a new National Cancer Plan, which will include further details on how we will improve cancer services across England.