Oral Answers to Questions

Robert Halfon Excerpts

Tuesday 27th November 2018 Commons Chamber

[Steve Brine]

I have a lot of time for the hon. Gentleman and do a lot of work with him. He knows that we published proposals in the child obesity plan to launch a consultation on a pre-9 pm watershed ban, and we will be bringing that forward before the end of the year as promised.

[Robert Halfon (Harlow) (Con)]

8. What estimate his Department has made of the number of children and young people with cancer who are unable to access treatment due to the cost of travel.

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

No child or young person with cancer should be unable to access the treatment they need because of the cost of travelling to hospital. Through the healthcare travel costs scheme, which is part of the NHS low income scheme, parents in receipt of a qualifying benefit or on a low income can claim for the reimbursement of travel costs for their children’s treatment. To date, the scheme has helped some 337,000 people.

[Robert Halfon]

CLIC Sargent, the charity for children with cancer, has shown that families in my constituency with children with cancer can face a 54-mile round trip to get to their nearest treatment location, which can cost them up to £161.58 a month. Families are incurring thousands of pounds of debt paying for parking and driving their children to their cancer treatment. Does my hon. Friend acknowledge that only 6% of parents of children with cancer are reported as having received financial help from the NHS healthcare travel costs assistance scheme? Does he recognise that the scheme is not designed to meet the needs of children and young people who need highly specialised treatment—

[Mr Speaker]

Order. Far too long.