Asked by: Clive Betts (Labour - Sheffield South East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what cross-government work his Department is undertaking to prevent alcohol-related cancers.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Edinburgh South West on 28 July 2025 to Question 63912.
Asked by: Clive Betts (Labour - Sheffield South East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the forthcoming alcohol labelling regulations will include warnings on the link between alcohol and cancer.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
In the 10-Year Health Plan, the Government committed to strengthen and expand on existing voluntary guidelines for alcohol labelling by introducing a mandatory requirement for alcoholic drinks to display consistent nutritional information and health warning messages.
Departmental officials are progressing this work, and at the appropriate time we will consult with stakeholders on the best ways to communicate the necessary information on the health risks to consumers through alcohol labels. As we take forward this work, we will consider emerging evidence and practice from other countries, including Ireland.
Asked by: Clive Betts (Labour - Sheffield South East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to require that mandatory alcohol labels include a warning about the risk of cancer associated with alcohol consumption.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
In the 10-Year Health Plan, the Government committed to strengthen and expand on existing voluntary guidelines for alcohol labelling by introducing a mandatory requirement for alcoholic drinks to display consistent nutritional information and health warning messages.
Departmental officials are progressing this work, and at the appropriate time we will consult with stakeholders on the best ways to communicate the necessary information on the health risks to consumers through alcohol labels. As we take forward this work, we will consider emerging evidence and practice from other countries, including Ireland.
Asked by: Clive Betts (Labour - Sheffield South East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what his planned timeline is for the implementation of mandatory health labelling on alcohol products in England; and whether he has made an assessment of the potential implications for his policies of delays to similar labelling legislation in Ireland.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
In the 10-Year Health Plan, the Government committed to strengthen and expand on existing voluntary guidelines for alcohol labelling by introducing a mandatory requirement for alcoholic drinks to display consistent nutritional information and health warning messages.
Departmental officials are progressing this work, and at the appropriate time we will consult with stakeholders on the best ways to communicate the necessary information on the health risks to consumers through alcohol labels. As we take forward this work, we will consider emerging evidence and practice from other countries, including Ireland.
Asked by: Clive Betts (Labour - Sheffield South East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many patients are in medical trials at (a) Sheffield Teaching Hospital Trust, (b) Leeds Teaching Hospital Trust and (c) Nottingham University Hospital Trust.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department funds research and research infrastructure via the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), which supports patients and the public to participate in high-quality research. The NIHR Research Delivery Network (RDN) supports the delivery of health and social care research, including recruitment to clinical trials and other types of research study, in all National Health Service trusts in England.
Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust currently has 57,581 participants enrolled in open studies on the NIHR RDN portfolio, with Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust currently having 27,033 participants enrolled in such studies, and Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust with 51,654 participants. This data covers both interventional and observational studies eligible for NIHR support which are recruiting at the relevant trusts.
Asked by: Clive Betts (Labour - Sheffield South East)
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 merits of support for cancer Multidisciplinary Team Coordinators in improving the (a) accuracy and (b) completeness of blood cancer data collection.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
It is a priority for the Government to support the National Health Service to diagnose cancer, including blood cancer, as early and quickly as possible, and to treat it faster, to improve outcomes for all patients across England.
NHS England understands that data collection helps to improve the experiences of people with cancer, including blood cancer, and has committed to ensuring that every person diagnosed with cancer has access to personalised care. This includes needs assessments, a care plan, and health and wellbeing information and support.
My rt. Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, announced that a National Cancer Plan for England will be published this year, supporting the Prime Minister’s mission to build an NHS fit for the future and to reduce the number of lives lost to cancer. As part of the National Cancer Plan, we are committed to working closely with partners and patient groups to shape the long-term vision for cancer, including for blood cancer. The National Cancer Plan will have patients at its heart and will cover the entirety of the cancer pathway, from referral and diagnosis to treatment and ongoing care. It will seek to improve every aspect of cancer care, including the design of services and the experiences and outcomes for people with cancer.
Asked by: Clive Betts (Labour - Sheffield South East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how the forthcoming National Cancer Plan and NHS Workforce Plan will together improve blood cancer patients' (a) outcomes and (b) experiences.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Cancer Plan will ensure that all cancer patients across England have access to the best cancer care and treatments. It will seek to improve every aspect of cancer care, including the design of services and the experience and outcomes for people with cancer, including those with blood cancer.
Recruitment to National Health Service roles is managed locally by NHS trusts and partner employers. However, NHS England is taking a range of actions to support the recruitment and retention of staff in the NHS cancer workforce. As of February 2025, there are over 1,800 full time equivalent doctors working in the speciality of clinical oncology in NHS trusts and other core organisations in England. This is almost 150, or 8.9%, more than last year.
The NHS Workforce Plan will ensure the NHS has the right people in the right places to deliver the care all patients need, including blood cancer patients, improving outcomes and experiences. This will include expanding specialty training places in key cancer professions, such as histopathology, clinical radiology, and gastroenterology. Targeted national campaigns and outreach activities, for example in clinical oncology, also promote cancer career pathways, with a focus on increasing applications.
Asked by: Clive Betts (Labour - Sheffield South East)
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 levels of of geographic variation in access to NHS approved treatments for people with blood cancer.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to providing patients with timely access to diagnosis and treatment, regardless of their location in the country.
The National Health Service has delivered an extra four million operations, scans, and appointments as the first step to ensuring earlier and faster access to treatment for patients.
The National Cancer Plan will include further details on improving outcomes for cancer patients in England, as well as speeding up diagnosis and treatment. It will ensure patients, including those with blood cancer, have timely access to the latest treatments and technology.
Asked by: Clive Betts (Labour - Sheffield South East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the National Cancer Plan will include commitments to (a) improve diagnostic pathways and (b) reduce delays in identifying blood cancers at an early stage.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government has announced that the National Cancer Plan will be published later this year, following the recent publication of the 10-Year Health Plan. The National Cancer Plan will ensure that all cancer patients, including patients with blood cancer, will have access to the best cancer care and treatments. It will have patients at its heart and will cover the entirety of the cancer pathway, from referral and diagnosis to treatment and ongoing care.
The Department is supporting the National Health Service to reduce the number of cancers diagnosed in emergency care settings, by improving waiting times for cancer diagnosis and treatment, starting by delivering an extra 40,000 operations, scans, and appointments each week.
Alongside improving cancer waiting time performance, the NHS has implemented non-specific symptom pathways for patients who present with vague and non-site-specific symptoms, which do not clearly align to a tumour type. This includes blood cancer, which is one of the most common cancers diagnosed via these pathways.
Further actions on improving the survival of all cancers, including blood cancer, will be outlined in the forthcoming National Cancer Plan.
Asked by: Clive Betts (Labour - Sheffield South East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to improve the (a) collection, (b) analysis and (c) reporting of blood cancer data to ensure it is comprehensive and consistent across England.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department remains committed to ensuring that the cancer workforce and healthcare professionals collect and have access to the most up-to-date data available. Cancer data collection is crucial in identifying areas of variation and disparity within cancer services, informing health strategies, and improving patient care.
The National Cancer Plan will include further details on how we will improve outcomes for cancer patients in England, as well as speeding up diagnosis and treatment. It will ensure patients, including those with blood cancer, have access to the latest treatments and technology. It will consider all aspects of cancer care, including data collection.