Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Richard Baker and Yvette Cooper

Tuesday 20th October 2026 Commons Chamber

[Richard Baker (Glenrothes and Mid Fife) (Lab)]

11. What steps she is taking to improve cancer diagnosis and treatment.

[The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (Yvette Cooper)]

The national cancer plan sets out how the Government will continue to reduce waiting times for diagnosis and treatment, and use new research technology and clinical trials to transform outcomes. Alongside the Prime Minister, last week I met Archie Goodburn in Downing Street to discuss the new action that we are taking on brain cancer, and our determination to tackle every form of that cruel disease.

[Richard Baker]

That action will be welcomed across the House. Each year, about 20,000 men in Scotland are diagnosed with prostate cancer, and between half and two-thirds of them could benefit from focal therapy, which has a fivefold lower risk of harmful side effects compared with conventional treatments. Will my right hon. Friend share learning and data from the expansion of focal therapy provision in England with Scottish Ministers, as it is still not available in Scotland, despite NHS Fife being well placed to provide a national centre for focal therapy treatment in Scotland?

[Yvette Cooper]

My hon. Friend makes an important point about the importance of improving prostate cancer treatment, which affects so many men across the UK. We are investing £2.8 million to expand access to focal therapy in specialist centres in England, and NICE will look at the progress that is being made. We would of course be keen to work with the Scottish Government on this, and for them to be able to see the same results. It is important that we continue to improve treatment.

International Development

Debate between Richard Baker and Yvette Cooper

Thursday 19th March 2026 Commons Chamber

[Yvette Cooper]

We have to both increase our defence spending and champion international development in order to maintain our security here at home. That means focusing in particular on the areas where conflict is greatest. I worry that continued instability in Sudan, for example, allows extremist groups to flourish, which creates regional instability and increases migration. That is why we are continuing to support refugees in the region and in places like Turkey. Again, that is to prevent migration and instability. We are focusing our development funding and our policy measures on a lot of that prevention work. It is also important that we see this as investment and policy measures going hand in hand, and that we do not look at them in isolation.

[Richard Baker (Glenrothes and Mid Fife) (Lab)]

Later today I am meeting Inclusion International, which supports people with learning disabilities throughout the world. The focus on women and girls that my right hon. Friend referred to is welcome and important, but there is great concern among disability organisations over the impact of widespread cuts to international aid for millions of people—millions of disabled people—affected by conflict. Will my right hon. Friend assure me that she and her colleagues in Government will work with international aid organisations so that initiatives providing lifeline support to disabled people, often facing poverty, can continue?

[Yvette Cooper]

We will continue to work with international organisations on this; in fact, the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, my hon. Friend the Member for Bridgend (Chris Elmore), is due to have meetings on disability issues later today. We looked at this issue to ensure that there would not be a disproportionate impact, particularly with regard to equality impact assessments. We recognise that there is a difficult impact from reductions in aid budgets. That is why this has been such a difficult decision to make.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Richard Baker and Yvette Cooper

Monday 7th July 2025 Commons Chamber

[Yvette Cooper]

My hon. Friend is right to refer both to returns—we have increased returns of failed asylum seekers by more than 20% since the election—and to the action against the criminal gangs. We know that there are Iraqi Kurdish gangs in particular operating in northern France, so we have a new agreement in place with the French Government, the Iraqi Government and the Kurdistan Regional Government, to pursue those gangs.

[Richard Baker (Glenrothes and Mid Fife) (Lab)]

17. What recent progress her Department has made on tackling antisocial behaviour.