Oral Answers to Questions

Jim Shannon Excerpts

Tuesday 22nd July 2025 Commons Chamber

[The Minister for Care (Stephen Kinnock)]

I commend my hon. Friend for bringing his personal experience to bear on this important matter. NHS England’s independent ADHD taskforce is looking at how to provide support for people with ADHD and how to improve it. We are considering the taskforce’s interim report and look forward to the final report later this year. The taskforce is joined up with expert groups established across Government to provide advice on meeting the needs of neurodivergent children and young people in education, and on boosting neurodiversity inclusion at work.

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

T7.   Will the Minister confirm what steps the Department will take to build neighbourhood health services in partnership with charities, such as Macmillan, that have a proven track record of designing and delivering community-based services for people with long-term conditions? How can we ensure that this is a UK-wide service, and not a postcode lottery for cancer services?

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (Ashley Dalton)]

The cancer plan will reflect the three shifts in the 10-year plan, including from hospital to community. Macmillan, Cancer Research UK and Cancer52 all sit on the steering board for the cancer plan, and I meet them regularly. Last week, we announced the Diagnostic Connect partnership with the third sector, linking patients with third sector services on diagnosis. The cancer plan will cover this for the whole of England and build on the commitments in the 10-year plan.

NHS Pensions: Frontline Patient Care

Jim Shannon Excerpts

Thursday 17th July 2025 Commons Chamber

[Karin Smyth]

I am totally focused on remedying this situation and learning from the mistakes. If further action is required, I will happily update the House at that point. My absolute focus at the moment is on getting everybody in that organisation and the independent review focused on sorting out the pension situation for those who have already lost out.

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

As always, I thank the Minister very much for her answers. I recently read an article that referred to the mechanism of the NHS pension scheme as a “Ponzi scheme”, which gives me great concern about the scheme’s ability to cope in 20 years’ time. How do the Government and the Minister intend to convert the transitional arrangement in place since 2019—of topping up pensions from another source—into permanent and transparent arrangements so that we can stop robbing Peter to pay Paul and ensure that those who are working 70 hours a week in 2025 have a real pension and retirement fund in 2065?

[Karin Smyth]

The hon. Gentleman tempts me to stray further from the urgent question, but he raises an important point, further to the one raised by the hon. Member for West Worcestershire (Dame Harriett Baldwin), who is a trustee of the parliamentary contributory pension fund.

The NHS pension scheme is an extremely important part of the reward package that NHS staff at all levels absolutely deserve. We want to ensure that it, like the rest of the NHS, is fit for the future. If hon. Members have suggestions for how to make it work better, as part of ongoing discussions, I am happy to hear them.

Women and Girls with Autism: Mental Health Support

Jim Shannon Excerpts

Tuesday 15th July 2025 Westminster Hall

[Jessica Toale]

Absolutely. There are now more than 2,000 people with learning disabilities and/or autism detained across the UK in in-patient units similar to the one that Lauren was held in. They are often far from home, cut off from their families and placed in highly restrictive environments that frequently do more harm than good. Lauren’s case is heartbreaking, but it must also be a turning point, which is why Lindsey is campaigning for Lolly’s law and why I am bringing this campaign to the House today.

Lolly’s law proposes four urgent reforms that could prevent future tragedies. The first is mandatory retraining for psychiatric professionals and support staff so that they have a proper understanding of how autism presents in girls and women. Too often those young women are misdiagnosed with personality disorders or wrongly pathologised.

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

I commend the hon. Lady for securing this debate. She is absolutely right to highlight the issue. It is very hard to listen to because the particular circumstances are so personal. Numerous studies have shown that girls and women are more likely to internalise the stress and anxieties that come with autism, whereas boys are likely to be more openly tempered or passive-aggressive. That is a statement rather than an observation. Does the hon. Lady agree that we could work more closely with teachers in schools and other individuals to ensure that young girls struggling with autism have support in the educational system to externalise some of their stress?

[Jessica Toale]

It is obvious that women tend to mask symptoms of autism more and that they present very differently from men. Our medical system is not set up to properly diagnose it in women.

The second proposal of Lolly’s law is a reassessment of personality disorder diagnoses where autism might be missed. There needs to be a national reassessment programme to identify cases of misdiagnosis and provide appropriate support for those affected. The evidence already shows that where female in-patients are diagnosed with emotionally unstable personality disorder and/or eating disorders and are reassessed for autism, 100% of them receive a diagnosis for autism.

Thirdly, specialist suicide prevention and self-harm teams must be available in all mental health units for vulnerable young people. These should be multidisciplinary teams trained specifically in females with autism. Finally, anti-ligature doors and safety infrastructure must be mandated across all in-patient mental health facilities. These are basic safeguards that can and do save lives.

Lindsey has set up a petition for Lolly’s law, which has already gathered 225,000 signatures—clear proof of the public demand for action. She has also developed a training course for child and adolescent mental health services professionals, solicitors and others involved in mental health decision making, which has been positively received by those who have seen it.

Resident Doctors: Industrial Action

Jim Shannon Excerpts

Thursday 10th July 2025 Commons Chamber

[Wes Streeting]

I entirely agree with my hon. Friend. It will be patients who suffer the most. I also urge the BMA to consider the impact on its whole membership, because it is other staff who are left picking up the pieces, and other staff who are tired—literally tired—of working in an NHS that is far from its best. To resident doctors in particular, I say that the cost of this will also be borne by them. There are choices and trade-offs in politics, especially when resources are tight. We can and we will act to deal with specialty bottlenecks. We can and we will act to tackle doctor unemployment, but our ability to do so is undermined, if not diminished, if we are instead paying the cost of this unnecessary, unreasonable and unfair strike action.

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

I thank the Secretary of State for his statement today and fully support the line of action that he has taken. Indications that the majority of doctors in the BMA did not vote to strike makes this strike action even more difficult to understand. The Secretary of State is clearly trying to find a way forward. The way to do that is through finding solutions. Reviewing conditions of work, such as those that see junior doctors working 84 hours within the space of a week, would be helpful. Perhaps this action is not only about pay, but about the expectations of these young people who have life and death in their hands for 13 hours for six out of seven days a week.

[Wes Streeting]

The hon. Gentleman makes an entirely reasonable point. Pay is important—people have to be able to pay their bills and lead a good life—but so too are their working conditions. I am absolutely determined to work with resident doctors to make progress not just on pay, which we have already done, but on the conditions in which they are working. Given where we are with both of those things—the improvement on pay and the willingness to work together to improve conditions—they are not grounds for strike action.

Glaucoma Awareness

Jim Shannon Excerpts

Wednesday 9th July 2025 Westminster Hall

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship for the second time today, Mr Pritchard—I am getting a liking for it. I thank the hon. Member for Leicester South (Shockat Adam) for securing the debate. As my party’s health spokesperson, issues such as glaucoma are of great importance to me—the statistics show its prevalence. I would not have thought there would ever be a case in which the hon. Member for Alloa and Grangemouth (Brian Leishman) would be lost for words, no matter what might happen; that is meant as a compliment, by the way.

As it is Glaucoma Awareness Week, there is no greater time to consider this issue. I will start by describing the scale of the issue in Northern Ireland specifically, because that is what I want to highlight. Queen’s University undertook a study that found a 2.83% prevalence of glaucoma in 3,221 people aged 50-plus—I understand that rate is normal, compared with the rest of the United Kingdom—and that around two-thirds of those were undiagnosed. There is an issue to address: those who are undiagnosed. Northern Ireland currently has some 18,000 confirmed glaucoma cases. As I have said to the hon. Member for Leicester South—he knows this story—although my dad is dead and gone, when he was alive he lost his eyesight to glaucoma. Unfortunately—they were probably just not as good at managing it in times past—it crept up on him, and he lost his eyesight. My dad was very fortunate to have my mother to look after him, in every sense of the word. They loved each other greatly. It was never a burden to my mum to look after my dad. That was really important.

I was fortunate to secure a debate on glaucoma and community optometry just last year. The hon. Member for Leicester South made a fantastic contribution to that debate. I greatly admire his knowledge of optometry, and the job he did before he was elected. When he comes to these debates he brings that fount of knowledge, experience and examples, which we all appreciate. There is such an important link between our opticians and healthcare specialists who treat eye conditions such as glaucoma. Data from Specsavers highlighted that in 2023, some 30,000 referrals for glaucoma were made for people aged 40 to 60. Not all those people were diagnosed as such, but the fact was that there were some concerns, and the treatment for them was able to start.

I have some stats for Northern Ireland that I want to quote for the record. Regarding the adoption of innovative glaucoma technologies, such as iStent inject, two of the biggest eye surgery hospitals in the country—Altnagelvin area hospital and Belfast city hospital—now routinely offer such combined procedures to comorbid glaucoma and cataract patients. The focus is now on making sure that no glaucoma patients miss out on the opportunity to intervene in glaucoma at the time of routine elective cataract surgery. The advances are incredible at this moment in time.

As of March 2025—which has just passed—almost 50,000 people were waiting for ophthalmology outpatient appointments in Northern Ireland. That is a massive number, and the Minister in the Assembly back home really needs to take that on. In Northern Ireland, the prevalence of glaucoma in people aged over 50 is, as I said, comparable to other parts of the United Kingdom, and indeed other parts of Europe. The figures that we have seem to be relevant wherever we are in the United Kingdom, but also across the whole of Europe. Interestingly, around two thirds of people with glaucoma were not aware of their glaucoma, as the hon. Member for Leicester South said in his introduction. If that is generalisable from the study sample to the whole population, that rate is higher than in other comparable populations.

Glaucoma is the second most common reason for certification as sight impaired, or severely sight impaired, in Northern Ireland. On average, 13.1% of certifications are caused by glaucoma, although that varies a lot year on year. I want to tell the Minister what we are doing itenn Northern Ireland in relation to the iStent inject surgery. That is a massive, technological, medical, modern way forward. It is good to be able to report it in this debate.

[Iqbal Mohamed (Dewsbury and Batley) (Ind)]

Under the 10-year plan, the Government want to invest in the NHS and bring services into the community. There are examples of that around our country, and maybe in Northern Ireland. There are trusts in London with diagnostic hubs that better manage glaucoma. There are regions with community glaucoma services that have reported halving hospital referrals, improving access and saving millions. There are also pilots, such as in the Royal Devon’s Nightingale model, that reduce appointments from two hours to 30 minutes. Does the hon. Gentleman agree that investing, reorganising and having a joined-up service with advanced detection will save money for the Government and save people’s sight?

[Jim Shannon]

The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right. To be fair, the hon. Member for Leicester South was clear that there is an opportunity to advance greatly under the 10-year NHS plan to solve the problems. There are better ways of doing things and reducing waiting times.

We are fortunate to have two hospitals in Northern Ireland, the Altnagelvin area hospital and Belfast city hospital, where new treatment is starting and also where cataract operations can take place. Cataract operations also take place in Downe hospital, just outside my constituency. Optometrists have a key role to play because they can spot the early signs of glaucoma during routine tests. For patients with stable glaucoma, optometrists have a role in monitoring eye health and helping them manage their condition.

Ahead of this debate I was in touch with Glaukos on the steps that can be taken both nationally and within the devolved Administrations to improve the outcomes for those diagnosed with glaucoma. In his intervention, the hon. Member for Dewsbury and Batley (Iqbal Mohamed) made it clear that there could be great advances in glaucoma and for eye care and doing things better. Glaukos has educated me on the iStent injects that are implanted during cataract surgery or in a stand-alone procedure—the very things that the hon. Member for Leicester South referred to. These little stents unblock drainage and lower eye pressure with minimal risk or cost. Perhaps that is something the Minister could commit to looking at and engaging with as a means of treatment for those with glaucoma.

The Minister is always well versed on the technologies and advances. I know that when he replies to this debate he will give us some encouragement. I should say I am pleased to see the shadow Minister, the hon. Member for Hinckley and Bosworth (Dr Evans), in his place. I love doing debates with him. He and I share a passion for the subject matter. He brings a wealth of knowledge to these debates and I thank him for that.

To conclude, there are thousands and thousands of people living with the condition, but there will be thousands more to come. That is what we want to try to address. Ensuring affordable and accessible treatment is imperative. As I previously stated, and as the hon. Member for Leicester South who introduced the debate has stated, we must not underestimate the impact that our local opticians have in detecting these kinds of issues early on. I therefore urge people out there to prioritise their eye health while they can.

Down’s Syndrome Regression Disorder

Jim Shannon Excerpts

Tuesday 8th July 2025 Westminster Hall

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

It is a real pleasure to serve under your chairship, Sir Jeremy. I thank the hon. Member for Thurrock (Jen Craft) for raising the issue, and for how she participates in all debates—with obvious knowledge, compassion and understanding. We thank her for that. Having this debate enables us to contribute.

I am going to give an example of a constituent in Newtownards who went through Down’s syndrome regression and describe the impact that that is having on mum, dad and child. The condition is not always understood—it is only understood by those it directly affects. Down’s syndrome regression disorder is a condition in which individuals with Down’s syndrome experience a sudden loss of previously acquired skills and abilities. I am going to explain that in relation to the couple in Newtownards and their child—she is a young lady now, to be fair. The condition may involve a change in eating patterns, such as not wanting to eat, and extreme slowness and low energy, which may or may not be associated with weight loss. These are things that their child never had before, but all of a sudden they do. There can be enhanced insomnia, obsessive-compulsive behaviours, a loss of independence in activities or a need for significant assistance with activities. Problematically, the person may also be aggressive, not because they are aggressive, but because their frustration sometimes leads to that. They may display anger or frustration, with or without behavioural outbursts. Those are all things that happened.

When I think about this condition, I think of a family I helped last year with their daughter’s disability living allowance renewal. They are in their late 70s and care for their daughter, who has Down’s syndrome. She walks the floors, night and day, in pain. She is in her 50s, and her joints are reacting to the continued walking. Because she is in pain, she has begun to lash out, not because that is her nature—that was never her nature. Her mum and dad have lovingly cared for her for more than 50 years, but their age and the regression mean that they cannot do so in the way that they did. They find it more difficult.

This week, I had the awful news that the father has been diagnosed with cancer. The question for the family is this: how will they cope without their dad? I helped them with the DLA renewal—I understood the issues and tried to put them across as best I could—but I often wonder why someone has to have a DLA or personal independence payment renewal for Down’s syndrome. It is almost inconceivable to me that it happens. But the question is not just about that. What happens while the dad, nearing 80, is battling cancer? What happens if he passes on from this world? Those are questions not simply for that family in Newtownards, but for families throughout the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland who are ageing and wondering what the next step will be for their adult vulnerable child—an adult in so many ways, but also a child in others.

The underlying need for that family, and for so many others like theirs, is support. They do not know how to handle their child who has stopped responding to them, and feel alone with the changes. As a society, we have rightly moved away from institutionalising Down’s syndrome children. But, with great respect, I believe we have also abdicated our responsibility towards adults with Down’s syndrome and their families—and that needs to change.

In Northern Ireland, the incidence of Down’s syndrome is one in 770 births. That shows the level of support needed for families, and for us back home. My gut feeling is that the numbers are probably the same over here on the mainland. It is not acceptable to throw PIP at a family and walk away. They need respite care for weeks, maybe longer, and day support classes to give their child routine and something to live for.

I am involved with an organisation called East Coast Day Opportunities. It is run by two ladies, Janine Patton and Llewellyn McClurg, in Portavogie in the Ards peninsula where I live. They worked for 20 years at the Tor Bank special school and were touched by the fact that after their education ended at the age of 18, vulnerable adults were left at home all day, so they fought for a form of funding. I know it is not the Minister’s responsibility—it is not about that—but they are still fighting to ensure that individual young people receive their funding. There should be no battle. Dedicated support should be available to enable families to keep their child at home with them. I think in particular of that family in Newtownards who are under such pressure.

In conclusion, support and succour are needed, and that is what we look to the Minister to provide. Regression must not necessarily mean the end of home care. The only way around this is to acknowledge that we have a hard obligation that we must do better in fulfilling.

[Several hon. Members rose—]

Alcohol and Cancer

Jim Shannon Excerpts

Tuesday 8th July 2025 Westminster Hall

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

It is a real pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Stuart. I thank the hon. Member for Lancaster and Wyre (Cat Smith) for setting the scene expertly with all the detailed information we need. Before we started, she told me that this is our first debate together in Westminster Hall for some time, and it was a real pleasure to see her in full flow again.

This issue affects so many people in every constituency. The debate is an opportunity to explore the issue further and see how we, and ultimately the Minister, can inform and aid people to make good choices about nutrition and health. I am not in the business of telling people what to do. I do not think that is the way to do it; we should try to coax. If we raise awareness of the issues, as the hon. Member for Lancaster and Wyre has done incredibly well, we will have a better way of persuading people to be careful and not excessive. I welcome the Government’s excellent 10-year NHS plan, which was announced last Thursday. All of us in this United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland should be encouraged by the Government and Minister’s commitment to it.

It is estimated that nearly 40% of cancer cases in the United Kingdom are currently preventable, caused by known, modifiable risk factors such as the food we eat and what we drink. I am a diabetic, and that is because of my own circumstances—I would not recommend Chinese and two bottles of Coke five nights a week, and lots of stress. It does not work. Unfortunately, I did not have the wherewithal to understand that it was the wrong thing to do. It caught up with me when I was 17 stone and heading for type 2 diabetes, as a doctor told me. The point is that I did not know, but I should have known, because the symptoms were there.

It is the same for the symptoms of cancer. There is convincing evidence that being overweight, obesity, processed meat consumption and drinking alcohol are associated with increased cancer risk. Suggestions have been made that being overweight and obesity—this is really worrying—could overtake smoking as the greatest cause of preventable cancers in women in the United Kingdom by 2043. Some of the stats are incredibly shocking.

Cancer research has highlighted that there are many ways that alcohol can cause cancer, such as through damage to cells and changes to hormones. Alcohol can increase the levels of some hormones in our bodies such as oestrogen and insulin. All alcohol has an effect, even a small amount. The hon. Member for Lancaster and Wyre is right that it is better if we do not drink it. By the way, I am not telling anybody what to do, to make that clear, but it is about advice.

[Mr Gregory Campbell]

My hon. Friend is talking about an educational approach and trying to advise rather than force people; does he agree that the younger we start doing that, the better? Although they are not exclusively the target audience, we need to focus on teenagers and those in their early 20s, because lifestyle choices are made when we are very young.

[Jim Shannon]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. Those are, by and large, the factors that will indicate where someone goes in adult life and further afield. It is important to do that at an early stage, whether at school or in young adulthood.

Hormones are chemical messengers, and high levels of oestrogen and insulin can make cells divide more often. That increases the chance that cancer will develop. Alcohol can make it easier for cells in the mouth and throat to absorb harmful chemicals that cause damage. There are signs that alcohol can exacerbate the chances of different types of cancer such as breast cancer and bowel cancer—two of the most common types—and mouth cancer. It can also increase the chance of some types of throat cancer, including cancer of the oesophagus, or the food pipe; cancer of the larynx, or the voice box; cancer of the pharynx, or the upper throat; and liver cancer. All those are potential issues.

Cancer Focus Northern Ireland has highlighted on its website the fact that the consumption of any amount of alcohol increases the risk of developing cancer, as the hon. Member for Lancaster and Wyre said. Cancer Focus Northern Ireland also says that the more alcohol a person drinks, the higher the risk of their developing cancer. Reducing consumption or, even better, avoiding alcohol completely will help to reduce the risk. Cancer Focus Northern Ireland also highlights the fact that drinking and smoking together multiplies the risk of developing certain cancers.

It is essential that we get the message across that just as we need to modulate our eating habits, we need to consider alcohol not simply from an addiction point of view but knowing that the links to cancer are clear. As with all things, it is important to educate young people, as my hon. Friend the Member for East Londonderry (Mr Campbell) said. We need to give them the understanding that alcohol intake is linked to overall health. This is a cross-departmental undertaking, with the Department for Education having a role to play alongside the Department of Health and Social Care. Perhaps the Minister could give us some ideas about how those two Departments could work better together to ensure that young people have a healthy approach to alcohol and less of a binge mentality.

British women are the biggest female binge drinkers in the world. That is what the stats say. More than a quarter of British women consume more than six drinks at least once a month, according to a 2023 report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, which compared alcohol consumption across 33 countries. Although the proportion is much higher for men, at 45%, the proportion for British women is still unmatched among female populations anywhere else in Europe. So we have a big job to do in encouraging a healthy attitude to alcohol. We must ensure that the messaging shows that it is an issue of long-term health, as well as one of short-term sobriety.

To conclude, people must be free to enjoy their lives and have a taste of things in moderation, but the health of the nation depends on a healthier approach to alcohol. The statistics outlined in this debate, by others before me and by those who will follow, show that this is a matter of urgency. As always, I very much look forward to the Minister outlining how the Government can—with us MPs, on behalf of our constituents—change the approach to the health of this great nation, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

NHS 10-Year Plan

Jim Shannon Excerpts

Thursday 3rd July 2025 Commons Chamber

[Wes Streeting]

As soon as my hon. Friend got to his feet, I knew exactly where the question was going. I was delighted to spend time campaigning for him in his constituency, and I know that the focus on neighbourhood health will be particularly welcome to people living in rural communities just like his. I would be delighted to meet with him to discuss his proposal, not least because he will hound me relentlessly if I say anything other than yes.

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

In a week that has been quite difficult, it is a real joy to have some good news in the Chamber in the 10-year plan. I thank the Secretary of State very much for that statement and for the positive fashion in which it was delivered. He says that it will deliver a health plan for all, but I have a quick question in relation to care in the community. Patients are taking up beds in hospitals who cannot get home, because the care in the community is not there. There are those who want to go to their homes, but the staff are not there to look after them. As the Secretary of State will know, I always try to do things in a positive fashion. When it comes to finding and training people, will he consider training through schools and colleges for specific roles in care in the community and encourage pupils from a young age to see those as careers that they wish to be part of? I know the Secretary of State will do this, but will he share all that good news with the Minister in the Northern Ireland Assembly?

[Wes Streeting]

I can absolutely give the hon. Gentleman that assurance. We will ensure that we are delivering that intermediate care in the community through not just the NHS, but our partners in social care. I have a really good relationship with Mike Nesbitt, my counterpart in Northern Ireland, so I am happy to share our learnings there. The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right to emphasise the importance of ensuring that it is not just the sons and daughters of doctors, but more working-class people from backgrounds such as mine who get to go into medicine. That is exactly what this plan will deliver.

Infant Feeding

Jim Shannon Excerpts

Tuesday 1st July 2025 Commons Chamber

[Jess Brown-Fuller]

I thank the hon. Member for her intervention. I was so pleased to hear the statement in the House earlier today. I know that she has been a tireless advocate for making sure that parental leave for all parents is improved dramatically. I thank her for her advocacy in that area.

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

I commend the hon. Lady; I spoke to her before the debate. In the last Parliament, one of the Scots Nats MPs was chair of the APPG. I was supportive of that as a man, as I thought that was important. My wife was an example of where breastfeeding is so important. Is the hon. Lady aware that Northern Ireland had the top score—69.5 out of 100—among UK nations? That may be because Northern Ireland has already put policies in place and is the only nation to have completed updated resources on infant feeding and HIV. Will she join me in urging the Northern Ireland health trust to share best practice with the other devolved nations and with the Minister to help encourage breastfeeding among those mothers who are able to do so?

[Jess Brown-Fuller]

I thank the hon. Member for his intervention. He is right that Northern Ireland scored the highest in the report card format on the World Breastfeeding Trends Initiative, which I will come to. In comparison, England scored a paltry less than 50, which was very much due to scoring zero on infant feeding and HIV.

Rare Cancers Bill (Money)

Jim Shannon Excerpts

Money resolution
Monday 30th June 2025 Commons Chamber

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (Ashley Dalton)]

I beg to move,

That, for the purposes of any Act resulting from the Rare Cancers Bill, it is expedient to authorise the payment out of money provided by Parliament of:

(1) any expenditure incurred under or by virtue of the Act by the Secretary of State, and

(2) any increase attributable to the Act in the sums payable under or by virtue of any other Act out of money so provided.

I pay tribute to my hon. Friend the Member for Edinburgh South West (Dr Arthur) for bringing forward this important Bill. The Government support it, and are committed to making a real difference for patients with rare cancers.

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

Just a quick one—I had hoped to speak to the Minister before she came to the Dispatch Box. In Northern Ireland, rare cancers account for a quarter of all cancer cases in both men and women. Will there be extra money set aside for Northern Ireland, where health is devolved, to deal with rare cancers? It is not just those who have rare cancers who have to deal with them; their families do, too. I ask that question of the Minister genuinely and respectfully.

[Ashley Dalton]

As the hon. Gentleman said, health is devolved. I am happy to write to him with the details of how we expect this private Member’s Bill to be implemented by the devolved Governments.

Question put and agreed to.