Asked by: Clive Jones (Liberal Democrat - Wokingham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to Action 21 of the National Cancer Plan, what appointment process will be used to select the independent representative who will co chair the reformed National Cancer Board.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Cancer Plan, published on the 4 February 2026, sets out several commitments and ambitions, to be delivered within the next 10 years. The role of the reformed National Cancer Board will be to support and monitor the delivery of the commitments and ambitions and provide regular updates to ministers.
The board will be co-chaired by the Director General for Planned Care in the Department and an independent representative.
It is important to choose the most suitable appointment process for selecting an independent representative to co-chair the board. Officials from NHS England and the Department are carefully following the required public appointments procedures.
The reformed National Cancer Board will be established once a co-chair is appointed.
Asked by: Clive Jones (Liberal Democrat - Wokingham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to Action 21 of the National Cancer Plan, when his Department expects the reformed National Cancer Board to be established.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Cancer Plan, published on the 4 February 2026, sets out several commitments and ambitions, to be delivered within the next 10 years. The role of the reformed National Cancer Board will be to support and monitor the delivery of the commitments and ambitions and provide regular updates to ministers.
The board will be co-chaired by the Director General for Planned Care in the Department and an independent representative.
It is important to choose the most suitable appointment process for selecting an independent representative to co-chair the board. Officials from NHS England and the Department are carefully following the required public appointments procedures.
The reformed National Cancer Board will be established once a co-chair is appointed.
Asked by: Clive Jones (Liberal Democrat - Wokingham)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether he plans to bring forward legislative proposals on energy independence.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The government is committed to delivering on our Mission to make the UK a Clean Energy Superpower. Where necessary, and subject to parliamentary time, we intend to pursue the primary legislative changes needed to deliver on this Mission. We will set out our plans in due course.
Asked by: Clive Jones (Liberal Democrat - Wokingham)
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 align NICE appraisal timelines, MHRA regulatory pathways and NHS commissioning decisions to support the delivery of personalised cancer medicines.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) aims to issue guidance on new medicines close to the time of licensing to ensure that patients benefit from rapid access to clinically and cost effective new medicines. The National Health Service in England is legally required to fund medicines recommended by NICE, normally within three months of final guidance, and cancer medicines are eligible for funding through the Cancer Drugs Fund from the point of a positive draft NICE recommendation, bringing forward patient access by up to five months.
Through the Life Sciences Sector Plan, we are improving alignment between Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency licensing and NICE guidance, helping medicines reach patients three to six months faster. This includes a coordinated pathway and integrated advice service for developers, launching in March 2026, to streamline regulatory and Health Technology Assessment processes and support timely patient access. The Life Sciences Sector Plan is published and available at the following link:
Asked by: Clive Jones (Liberal Democrat - Wokingham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what provision the National Cancer Plan will make for orphan drug pathways for patients with rare cancers requiring personalised treatment plans; and how those pathways will differ from existing commissioning arrangements.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
On 4 February 2026, NHS England and the Department published a National Cancer Plan for England. The National Cancer Plan is part of our work to build a National Health Service that is fit for the future and will make England a world-leader for cancer survival.
The orphan drug designation is assessed by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency and is granted at the same time as the marketing authorisation. It provides a period of market exclusivity during which similar competitor medicines cannot enter the United Kingdom market. The orphan drug regulations are designed to support the development of medicines to treat rare diseases including rare cancers.
All new licensed medicines, including orphan medicines, are evaluated by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), which makes recommendations for the NHS on whether they represent a clinically and cost-effective use of NHS resources. NICE aims wherever possible to issue recommendations on new medicines close to the time of licensing, and the NHS in England is legally required to fund medicines recommended by NICE. NICE has a strong track record in recommending orphan medicines for use on the NHS and many thousands of patients with rare diseases have benefitted from access to new medicines as a result.
The Rare Cancers Bill, currently going through the House of Lords, places a duty on the Government to publish a review of the law related to marketing authorisation for rare cancer drugs, for instance orphan drugs for cancer, comparing the UK’s approach to other approaches internationally. Through the National Cancer Plan the Government has committed to full implement of the Rare Cancers Bill to streamline trial pathways and review regulatory barriers that prevent access to promising new treatments.
Asked by: Clive Jones (Liberal Democrat - Wokingham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to ensure that NHS organisations and contracted wheelchair service providers are subject to more rigorous, mandatory regulation.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for the provision and commissioning of local wheelchair services, based on the needs of their local population. NHS England supports ICBs to commission effective, efficient, and personalised wheelchair services and to reduce delays in people receiving timely intervention and wheelchair equipment.
This includes publishing a Wheelchair Quality Framework on 9 April 2025, which sets out quality standards and statutory requirements for ICBs. The framework is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/wheelchair-quality-framework/
NHS England also introduced personal wheelchair budgets, including legal rights in 2019, providing a clear framework for ICBs to commission personalised wheelchair services which are outcomes focused and integrated. Personal wheelchair budgets give people greater choice over the wheelchair provided.
Since July 2015, NHS England has collected quarterly data from ICBs on wheelchair provision, including waiting times, to enable targeted action if improvement is required. The latest figures from the Quarter 2 2025/26 National Wheelchair Data Collection showed that 84% of adults and 78% of children received their equipment within 18 weeks. Further information on the National Wheelchair Data Collection is available at the following link:
The Medium-Term Planning Framework sets a requirement for all providers and ICBs to actively manage long waits for community health services reducing the proportion of all waits over 18 weeks. This will be monitored via the NHS’s usual regional and national assurance processes.
The Community Health Services Situation Report, which will be used to monitor ICB performance against waiting time targets in 2026/27, currently monitors waiting times for both children and young people, and adult waiting times under the ‘Wheelchair, Orthotics, Prosthetics and Equipment’ line. These targets will guide systems to reduce the longest waits, and improvement initiatives to meet these targets may affect waits that are over 18-weeks and 52-weeks.
Asked by: Clive Jones (Liberal Democrat - Wokingham)
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 that funding for wheelchair users is adequate to meet essential needs, including equipment and specialist support.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for the provision and commissioning of local wheelchair services, based on the needs of their local population. NHS England supports ICBs to commission effective, efficient, and personalised wheelchair services and to reduce delays in people receiving timely intervention and wheelchair equipment.
This includes the introduction of personal wheelchair budgets, including through legal rights in 2019, providing a clear framework for ICBs to commission personalised wheelchair services which are outcomes focused and integrated. Personal wheelchair budgets give people greater choice over the wheelchair provided.
NHS England also published a Wheelchair Quality Framework on 9 April 2025, which sets out quality standards and statutory requirements for ICBs. The framework is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/wheelchair-quality-framework/
Since July 2015, NHS England has collected quarterly data from ICBs on wheelchair provision, including waiting times, to enable targeted action if improvement is required. The latest figures from the Quarter 2 2025/26 National Wheelchair Data Collection showed that 84% of adults and 78% of children received their equipment within 18 weeks. Further information on the National Wheelchair Data Collection is available at the following link:
Local authorities in England have a statutory duty under various legislations, including the Care Act 2014, and the Children and Families Act 2014, to make arrangements for the provision of disability aids and community equipment, to meet the assessed eligible needs of individuals who are resident in their area. Some local authorities deliver this themselves, but a significant number have external contracts for an integrated community equipment service.
NHS England is also responsible for determining allocations of financial resources to ICBs. NHS England’s allocations policy aims to support equal opportunity of access for equal need, alongside NHS England’s duties to reduce health inequalities that are amenable to healthcare.
My Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, has marked 2025/26 as a financial reset year with the publication of Planning Guidance 2025/26. He has been clear that systems must live within their means, exhausting all opportunities to improve productivity, tackle waste, and take decisions on how to prioritise resources to best meet the health needs of their local population.
Asked by: Clive Jones (Liberal Democrat - Wokingham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what statistics he has on the demand for and use of wheelchairs; and how that data informs NHS England’s commissioning of appropriate services.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for the provision and commissioning of local wheelchair services, based on the needs of their local population. NHS England supports ICBs to commission effective, efficient, and personalised wheelchair services and to reduce delays in people receiving timely intervention and wheelchair equipment.
This includes the introduction of personal wheelchair budgets, including through legal rights in 2019, providing a clear framework for ICBs to commission personalised wheelchair services which are outcomes focused and integrated. Personal wheelchair budgets give people greater choice over the wheelchair provided.
NHS England also published a Wheelchair Quality Framework on 9 April 2025, which sets out quality standards and statutory requirements for ICBs. The framework is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/wheelchair-quality-framework/
Since July 2015, NHS England has collected quarterly data from ICBs on wheelchair provision, including waiting times, to enable targeted action if improvement is required. The latest figures from the Quarter 2 2025/26 National Wheelchair Data Collection showed that 84% of adults and 78% of children received their equipment within 18 weeks. Further information on the National Wheelchair Data Collection is available at the following link:
Local authorities in England have a statutory duty under various legislations, including the Care Act 2014, and the Children and Families Act 2014, to make arrangements for the provision of disability aids and community equipment, to meet the assessed eligible needs of individuals who are resident in their area. Some local authorities deliver this themselves, but a significant number have external contracts for an integrated community equipment service.
NHS England is also responsible for determining allocations of financial resources to ICBs. NHS England’s allocations policy aims to support equal opportunity of access for equal need, alongside NHS England’s duties to reduce health inequalities that are amenable to healthcare.
My Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, has marked 2025/26 as a financial reset year with the publication of Planning Guidance 2025/26. He has been clear that systems must live within their means, exhausting all opportunities to improve productivity, tackle waste, and take decisions on how to prioritise resources to best meet the health needs of their local population.
Asked by: Clive Jones (Liberal Democrat - Wokingham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to make the recently developed service specification guidelines for wheelchair services mandatory across England.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for the provision and commissioning of local wheelchair services, based on the needs of their local population. NHS England supports ICBs to commission effective, efficient, and personalised wheelchair services and to reduce delays in people receiving timely intervention and wheelchair equipment.
This includes publishing a Wheelchair Quality Framework on 9 April 2025, which sets out quality standards and statutory requirements for ICBs. The framework is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/wheelchair-quality-framework/
NHS England also introduced personal wheelchair budgets, including legal rights in 2019, providing a clear framework for ICBs to commission personalised wheelchair services which are outcomes focused and integrated. Personal wheelchair budgets give people greater choice over the wheelchair provided.
Since July 2015, NHS England has collected quarterly data from ICBs on wheelchair provision, including waiting times, to enable targeted action if improvement is required. The latest figures from the Quarter 2 2025/26 National Wheelchair Data Collection showed that 84% of adults and 78% of children received their equipment within 18 weeks. Further information on the National Wheelchair Data Collection is available at the following link:
The Medium-Term Planning Framework sets a requirement for all providers and ICBs to actively manage long waits for community health services reducing the proportion of all waits over 18 weeks. This will be monitored via the NHS’s usual regional and national assurance processes.
The Community Health Services Situation Report, which will be used to monitor ICB performance against waiting time targets in 2026/27, currently monitors waiting times for both children and young people, and adult waiting times under the ‘Wheelchair, Orthotics, Prosthetics and Equipment’ line. These targets will guide systems to reduce the longest waits, and improvement initiatives to meet these targets may affect waits that are over 18-weeks and 52-weeks.
Asked by: Clive Jones (Liberal Democrat - Wokingham)
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 that the expansion of diagnostic genomic testing for cancer is accompanied by timely NHS access to targeted therapies identified by that testing, including where such therapies are not routinely commissioned.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Cancer Plan, published on 4 February 2026, sets out clear actions to expand diagnostic genomic testing and ensure that this is matched by access to targeted therapies. The plan confirms that every cancer patient who would benefit from genomic testing, including those with rare cancers, will receive it within a clinically relevant timeframe.
To support timely access to treatments identified through genomic testing, a new joint National Institute for Health and Care Excellence and Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency process from April 2026 will accelerate licensing and appraisal so that National Health Service funding recommendations can be made more quickly. The expansion of the NHS Genomic Medicine Service will also help identify suitable targeted therapies, connect patients to clinical trials faster, and integrate genomic data into the Single Patient Record by 2028.
With reference to page 75 of the National Cancer Plan, it is Government policy that patients with rare cancers should benefit from personalised and targeted therapies where genomic testing identifies a suitable option. The plan also strengthens specialist multidisciplinary teams for rare cancers so that patients can access expertise from specialist centres and the most up‑to‑date evidence‑based treatments.