Asked by: Paul Davies (Labour - Colne Valley)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, if he will take (a) regulatory and (b) legislative steps to hold platforms accountable for monetising content which (i) does not meet internal policies on hate speech, (ii) promotes misogyny and (iii) promotes gender-based hate.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Online Safety Act gives online platforms new duties to tackle illegal user-generated content on their services. This includes duties for illegal content that stirs up hatred. Under these duties, providers need to remove this content. It cannot then be monetised. Categorised services also need to have systems and processes in place to enforce their terms of service about content that is prohibited on their service, including hate speech and misogyny. The regulation is overseen by Ofcom and it has strong powers to enforce compliance.
Asked by: Paul Davies (Labour - Colne Valley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans to consider support for the (a) mental health and (b) wellbeing of students in the national curriculum as part of the Curriculum and Assessment Review.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
This government is committed to improving mental health support for all children and young people. This is critical to breaking down barriers to opportunity and helping pupils to achieve and thrive in education.
As part of the curriculum, teaching about mental health has been part of the statutory health education, taught as part of relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) curriculum since 2020. We are currently reviewing the RSHE statutory guidance, including the content on mental health.
The government established an independent Curriculum and Assessment Review in July 2024 to shape a curriculum that is rich, broad, inclusive, and innovative. As part of this, the Review wants to ensure that the assessment system captures the strengths of every child and young person and the breadth of curriculum. This includes the right balance of assessment methods, whilst maintaining the important role of examinations.
The interim findings were published in March and acknowledged the importance of ensuring that the content, volume and frequency of assessments are not unnecessarily burdensome for students or teachers. The Review’s final report and recommendations will be published in autumn, at which point the government will respond.
Asked by: Paul Davies (Labour - Colne Valley)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps he is taking to ensure that social media platforms enforce their own (a) hate speech and (b) child protection policies.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Under the Online Safety Act, the largest services will need to put in place processes to enforce any Terms of Service they set for legal content for adults, including legal hate speech. Platforms likely to be accessed by children must also protect children from content that is harmful to them, including hateful content.
Services must have clear and accessible Terms of Service about how they fulfil their illegal content and child safety duties and apply them consistently.
Ofcom has robust enforcement powers to use against services that fail to fulfil duties. This includes fines of up to 10% of qualifying worldwide revenue.
Asked by: Paul Davies (Labour - Colne Valley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department plans to take to support colonoscopy services following the extension of the Bowel Cancer Screening Programme to include people aged 50-74.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The age extension for bowel screening started in April 2021 with the 56 year old cohort and, based on modelling and clinical advice, has followed the planned gradual reduction to age 50 by 2025. This has been done to ensure that screening centres could manage the required increase in colonoscopy capacity.
Services have increased screening capacity. Screening and symptomatic endoscopy services are working closely together as part of the ongoing endoscopy transformation of symptomatic pathways, which aims to release colonoscopy capacity through, for example:
Bowel cancer screening is a crucial aspect of prevention, helping identify apparently healthy people who may have an increased risk of a particular condition, preventing bowel cancer and promoting earlier diagnosis and detection. NHS England is committed to delivering bowel cancer screening uptake across the whole population and is working to reduce inequalities. As part of this, NHS England is developing public communications to increase awareness of screening amongst younger age groups, particularly in those 50 years old and over cohorts, who are newly eligible. This includes updating online and digital channels and working with key external stakeholders.
Asked by: Paul Davies (Labour - Colne Valley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department plans to take to encourage uptake of the Bowel Cancer Screening Programme to people aged 50 following the reduction of age eligibility.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The age extension for bowel screening started in April 2021 with the 56 year old cohort and, based on modelling and clinical advice, has followed the planned gradual reduction to age 50 by 2025. This has been done to ensure that screening centres could manage the required increase in colonoscopy capacity.
Services have increased screening capacity. Screening and symptomatic endoscopy services are working closely together as part of the ongoing endoscopy transformation of symptomatic pathways, which aims to release colonoscopy capacity through, for example:
Bowel cancer screening is a crucial aspect of prevention, helping identify apparently healthy people who may have an increased risk of a particular condition, preventing bowel cancer and promoting earlier diagnosis and detection. NHS England is committed to delivering bowel cancer screening uptake across the whole population and is working to reduce inequalities. As part of this, NHS England is developing public communications to increase awareness of screening amongst younger age groups, particularly in those 50 years old and over cohorts, who are newly eligible. This includes updating online and digital channels and working with key external stakeholders.
Asked by: Paul Davies (Labour - Colne Valley)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps he is taking to improve the regulatory environment for business.
Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
On 17 March 2025 this Government published the Action Plan for Regulation, outlining reforms to streamline regulation and support growth. As part of this we are cutting regulatory administrative costs to business by 25%, strengthening accountability for regulators and simplifying their duties to ensure the regulatory environment is focusing on growth, investment, and transparency. This will include finding ways to reduce costs for the manufacturing sector, which I know is important to businesses such as New Holland who have been making tractors in my honourable friend for Reading West and Mid Berkshire's constituency for over 60 years.
Asked by: Paul Davies (Labour - Colne Valley)
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 support research into Adrenal cancer through (a) funding, (b) clinical trials and (c) collaboration with academic institutions.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Research is crucial in tackling cancer, which is why the Department invests £1.6 billion each year on research through its research delivery arm, the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), with cancer as one of the largest areas of spend at over £133 million in 2023/24, reflecting its high priority. The NIHR funds research and research infrastructure, which supports patients and the public to participate in high-quality research.
The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including research into adrenal cancer. Applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made on the basis of the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money, and scientific quality.
The NIHR also welcomes applications for training awards from the clinical and non-clinical academic workforce conducting research into any aspect of human health, including adrenal cancer. The Department is the United Kingdom’s largest funder of clinical academic training, working with academic institutions and the wider health and care system to deliver a comprehensive research career pathway for the full range of clinicians.
The Department is committed to working with delivery partners, including the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, the pharmaceutical industry, and other key stakeholders, to achieve the common aim of creating a faster, more efficient, more accessible, and more innovative clinical research delivery system. We expect these efforts to attract more commercial investment in clinical research and yield a broad and diverse portfolio of clinical trials in the UK, so that we can provide innovative treatment options for patients, including those with adrenal cancer.
Asked by: Paul Davies (Labour - Colne Valley)
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 ensure (a) early diagnosis and (b) specialist treatment pathways for patients with Adrenal Cancer.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government recognises that diagnosing and treating rare cancers, including adrenal cancer, can be difficult due to their non-specific symptoms, which are often shared with other more common conditions.
To support earlier diagnosis, the National Health Service is improving referral and diagnostic pathways, including the use of non-specific symptom pathways for patients whose symptoms, such as unexplained weight loss, fatigue, or abdominal discomfort, do not clearly align with a single cancer type, but which may indicate a rare cancer like adrenal cancer. NHS England has also expanded general practice direct access to diagnostic tests, enabling faster investigation of concerning symptoms.
We are committed to transforming diagnostic services and will support the NHS to increase diagnostic capacity to meet the demand for diagnostic services through investment in new capacity, including magnetic resonance imaging and computed tomography scanners. Community diagnostic centres will also help reduce the number of patients waiting too long for a confirmed cancer diagnosis, and will ensure capacity is available for both common and rare cancers.
To improve access to timely treatment, the NHS is delivering an additional 40,000 operations, scans, and appointments each week. The forthcoming National Cancer Plan will set out further actions to improve outcomes for cancer patients, including those with rare and less common cancers. It will focus on speeding up diagnosis and treatment, and ensuring access to the latest treatments and technologies for all.
Asked by: Paul Davies (Labour - Colne Valley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps NHS England plans to take to improve (a) awareness and (b) training for (i) GPs and (ii) frontline healthcare professionals to better (A) recognize and (B) refer suspected cases of adrenal cancer.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
General practitioners (GPs) are responsible for ensuring their own clinical knowledge, including on adrenal cancer, remains up-to-date and for identifying learning needs as part of their continuing professional development. This activity should include taking account of new research and developments in guidance, such as that produced by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, to ensure that they can continue to provide high quality care to all patients.
The training curriculum for postgraduate trainee doctors is set by the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP), and has to meet the standards set by the General Medical Council. The RCGP provides a number of resources on cancer prevention, diagnosis, and care for GPs, relevant for the primary care setting.
NHS England supports initiatives aimed at enhancing early cancer diagnosis and awareness among healthcare professionals. These initiatives include GatewayC, an online education platform providing modules on early cancer diagnosis for primary care professionals, and the Aspirant Cancer Career and Education Development programme, designed to improve cancer-related knowledge and capabilities across the non-medical workforce. These measures aim to equip GPs and frontline professionals with the skills necessary to identify and act on potential cancer symptoms, including those of rare cancers such as adrenal cancer.
Asked by: Paul Davies (Labour - Colne Valley)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, if he will take steps to ensure the equitable geographic distribution of health research funding.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) funds health research across the UK, primarily through their Medical Research Council (MRC). The UKRI place toolkit underpins MRC’s vision to encourage and support excellent and impactful research, wherever it is found in the UK. MRC recognises the importance of place for strengthening capacity across the UK, for the long-term benefit of UK science. MRC draws on and fosters talent, research communities and capacity from across the UK to address major health challenges and the recently published MRC Place Framework sets out MRC’s principles for place and how it is used to guide decision making.