Asked by: Caroline Dinenage (Conservative - Gosport)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 29 May 2026 to Question 4096 on Radiotherapy, how many radiotherapy machines were purchased from the investment; and whether the investment is part of an annually available fund.
Answered by James Frith - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
I refer the Hon Member to the answer provided to the Hon Member for Wells and Mendip Hills on 19 May 2025 to Question 52230.
Asked by: Caroline Dinenage (Conservative - Gosport)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Fuller Inquiry Phase 2 Report: Government Interim Update on Progress, when he plans to respond to recommendations 29, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 69, 71 and 72.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
I refer the Hon Member to the Written Ministerial Statement made by my Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, on 1 September, available at the following link:
https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-statements/detail/2026-09-01/hcws295
We will provide further updates in due course, including on progress in implementing the recommendations in the Fuller Inquiry Phase 2 report.
Asked by: Caroline Dinenage (Conservative - Gosport)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the level of funding required to implement the objectives set out in the National Cancer Plan.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson
The National Cancer Plan, published in February 2026, aims to achieve its objectives by getting more from the resources already in the system, improving productivity, and modernising services to deliver better outcomes for patients.
The Plan is backed by significant funding committed by the Government at the Spending Review, including but not limited to a £2.3 billion investment in diagnostics to deliver an additional 9.5 million tests by 2029, over £650 million to complete the roll out of lung cancer screening by 2030, £70 million for new radiotherapy machines, and £200 million of ring-fenced funding for cancer alliances in 2026/27, to improve performance and early diagnosis. The plan also includes a £10 million fund to support children and young people with cancer and their families with travel costs.
Further decisions about the funding and provision of health services are the responsibility of integrated care boards (ICBs) who are funded by NHS England. ICBs are responsible for commissioning healthcare which best meets the needs of their local populations, including workforce expansion, equipment replacement, and pathway redesign.
Asked by: Caroline Dinenage (Conservative - Gosport)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what funding he is providing to support a) workplace expansion, b) equipment replacement and c) cancer pathway redesign to achieve the objectives of the National Cancer Plan.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson
The National Cancer Plan, published in February 2026, aims to achieve its objectives by getting more from the resources already in the system, improving productivity, and modernising services to deliver better outcomes for patients.
The Plan is backed by significant funding committed by the Government at the Spending Review, including but not limited to a £2.3 billion investment in diagnostics to deliver an additional 9.5 million tests by 2029, over £650 million to complete the roll out of lung cancer screening by 2030, £70 million for new radiotherapy machines, and £200 million of ring-fenced funding for cancer alliances in 2026/27, to improve performance and early diagnosis. The plan also includes a £10 million fund to support children and young people with cancer and their families with travel costs.
Further decisions about the funding and provision of health services are the responsibility of integrated care boards (ICBs) who are funded by NHS England. ICBs are responsible for commissioning healthcare which best meets the needs of their local populations, including workforce expansion, equipment replacement, and pathway redesign.
Asked by: Caroline Dinenage (Conservative - Gosport)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department plans to reform the radiotherapy tariff model to address (a) planning intensity, (b) technical complexity, and (c) the number of patients treated.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson
The 2026/27 NHS Payment Scheme introduced a blended payment model for radiotherapy services. We are working to develop proposals to further refine the payment model for radiotherapy to ensure it aligns with current clinical practice and demand for services. Any updates would be subject to consultation for a future payment scheme.
The responsibility for capital investment in radiotherapy equipment sits with local systems. Since April 2022, funding for new radiotherapy machines has been allocated through system operational capital envelopes, with integrated care boards responsible for prioritising investment based on local need.
While capital funding is not ringfenced for specific services, NHS England provides national oversight and guidance to support systems in making investment decisions, including through established governance arrangements and criteria for allocating funding for radiotherapy machine replacement.
The Department is taking a number of steps, working with NHS England, to support access to modern radiotherapy techniques, including Surface Guided Radiotherapy (SGRT).
The latest generation of radiotherapy machines forms part of a £70 million Government investment to roll out new equipment to every region of England, prioritising hospitals with ageing machines. This investment is improving access to modern radiotherapy techniques, including SGRT, by ensuring providers have the infrastructure needed to deliver more precise and efficient treatment.
In addition, National Health Service providers are increasingly adopting SGRT as part of modern radiotherapy pathways. Evidence from NHS trusts shows that SGRT can improve treatment accuracy, patient safety and efficiency, including through real‑time monitoring and reduced need for re‑positioning or additional imaging.
Asked by: Caroline Dinenage (Conservative - Gosport)
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 ensure that radiotherapy capital allocations distributed through Integrated Care Boards are protected.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson
The 2026/27 NHS Payment Scheme introduced a blended payment model for radiotherapy services. We are working to develop proposals to further refine the payment model for radiotherapy to ensure it aligns with current clinical practice and demand for services. Any updates would be subject to consultation for a future payment scheme.
The responsibility for capital investment in radiotherapy equipment sits with local systems. Since April 2022, funding for new radiotherapy machines has been allocated through system operational capital envelopes, with integrated care boards responsible for prioritising investment based on local need.
While capital funding is not ringfenced for specific services, NHS England provides national oversight and guidance to support systems in making investment decisions, including through established governance arrangements and criteria for allocating funding for radiotherapy machine replacement.
The Department is taking a number of steps, working with NHS England, to support access to modern radiotherapy techniques, including Surface Guided Radiotherapy (SGRT).
The latest generation of radiotherapy machines forms part of a £70 million Government investment to roll out new equipment to every region of England, prioritising hospitals with ageing machines. This investment is improving access to modern radiotherapy techniques, including SGRT, by ensuring providers have the infrastructure needed to deliver more precise and efficient treatment.
In addition, National Health Service providers are increasingly adopting SGRT as part of modern radiotherapy pathways. Evidence from NHS trusts shows that SGRT can improve treatment accuracy, patient safety and efficiency, including through real‑time monitoring and reduced need for re‑positioning or additional imaging.
Asked by: Caroline Dinenage (Conservative - Gosport)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure the adequacy of access to Surface Guided Radiotherapy treatment.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson
The 2026/27 NHS Payment Scheme introduced a blended payment model for radiotherapy services. We are working to develop proposals to further refine the payment model for radiotherapy to ensure it aligns with current clinical practice and demand for services. Any updates would be subject to consultation for a future payment scheme.
The responsibility for capital investment in radiotherapy equipment sits with local systems. Since April 2022, funding for new radiotherapy machines has been allocated through system operational capital envelopes, with integrated care boards responsible for prioritising investment based on local need.
While capital funding is not ringfenced for specific services, NHS England provides national oversight and guidance to support systems in making investment decisions, including through established governance arrangements and criteria for allocating funding for radiotherapy machine replacement.
The Department is taking a number of steps, working with NHS England, to support access to modern radiotherapy techniques, including Surface Guided Radiotherapy (SGRT).
The latest generation of radiotherapy machines forms part of a £70 million Government investment to roll out new equipment to every region of England, prioritising hospitals with ageing machines. This investment is improving access to modern radiotherapy techniques, including SGRT, by ensuring providers have the infrastructure needed to deliver more precise and efficient treatment.
In addition, National Health Service providers are increasingly adopting SGRT as part of modern radiotherapy pathways. Evidence from NHS trusts shows that SGRT can improve treatment accuracy, patient safety and efficiency, including through real‑time monitoring and reduced need for re‑positioning or additional imaging.
Asked by: Caroline Dinenage (Conservative - Gosport)
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 sport and physical activity on supporting the shift from sickness to prevention.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson
Reducing physical inactivity in people of all ages is important in helping people live longer, healthier lives through both the prevention and treatment of chronic diseases.
The Chief Medical Officer's advice is clear that every little bit of movement counts and that the greatest health benefits are from enabling people currently less active to move a bit more. This is why building movement into people’s everyday lives is a key part of the Government’s Health Mission to shift from sickness to prevention.
As committed to in the 10-Year Health Plan, we will develop a national movement campaign led by Sir Brendan Foster to inspire millions to move more, develop a new scheme to showcase how places are supporting people within communities to increase their activity levels, and work with the Department of Culture, Media and Sport on the Government’s plan for addressing physical inactivity.
The Government has recently announced a £1 billion investment to deliver the new PE and School Sport Partnerships Network to ensure all children can access equal opportunities for physical activity. This is alongside wider investment in grassroots sport, leisure facilities, and cycling and walking infrastructure to promote active travel.
Asked by: Caroline Dinenage (Conservative - Gosport)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he will issue guidance to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) on taking steps to ensure (a) unpaid care costs and (b) quality-of-life impacts on unpaid carers are reflected in NICE appraisals of new Alzheimer’s disease treatments.
Answered by Preet Kaur Gill
The Department has no plans to issue guidance to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) to ensure that it takes into account unpaid care costs and quality of life impacts on unpaid carers in appraisals of Alzheimer’s disease treatments. NICE is an independent body and is responsible for the methods and processes that it uses in the development of its technology appraisal recommendations, and develops its recommendations in line with its published health technology evaluations manual.
NICE is currently developing guidance on two disease modifying treatments for Alzheimer’s disease and NICE’s independent Appeal Panel has upheld appeals against its draft recommendations. The Appeal Panel has referred the appraisals back to the Appraisal Committee in order to allow them to reconsider the assessment of the impacts on carers.
Asked by: Caroline Dinenage (Conservative - Gosport)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to establish a dental school in Portsmouth.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Secretary of State for Wales
On 3 September 2025, the University of Portsmouth was designated as a dental authority for the purposes of the Dentists Act 1984 by The Dentists Act 1984 (Medical Authorities) Order 2025, enabling it to run dental exams and award dentistry qualifications.
On 10 March 2026, the Government announced an expansion of dental school places in England from 809 to 859, backed by an £11 million investment per year once the expansion is fully implemented.
The Office for Students (OfS) has statutory responsibility for allocating funding for dental school places. Ministers from the Department of Health and Social Care and the Department for Education have requested that the OfS prioritise new dental schools, approved by the General Dental Council, when allocating the new places.