Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his department has issued guidance to Integrated Care Boards on the inclusion of radiotherapy services in local strategic plans for cancer that were outlined in Action 20 of The National Cancer Plan for England.

Answered by Sharon Hodgson

The treatment of cancer normally involves surgery, systemic anti-cancer therapy, and radiotherapy, given individually or in combination, as appropriate to the type and stage of cancer and choices made by patients, in consultation with their doctor. Under this model of care, radiotherapy is available where it has been recommended as a treatment option and where patients have chosen to receive it.

In 2025, NHS England published a report titled Indicators for Radiotherapy Utilisation, which is publicly available. The report offers valuable insights about radiotherapy utilisation and variation and is designed to assist local systems to review broader clinical practice and put in place any improvements, where these are necessary.

Radiotherapy services operate through a collaborative but clearly delineated model, where integrated care boards commission services, providers deliver care in line with national standards, and Radiotherapy Networks and Cancer Alliances support planning and coordination.

The National Cancer Plan, published in February this year, made the commitment to meet all cancer waiting time standards by the end of this Parliament. Improving timely access to radiotherapy services across the country is a key enabler to meeting the 31-day and 62-day treatment standards.

The plan also makes specific commitments to improve the productivity of radiotherapy services, including using artificial intelligence to streamline treatment planning. Furthermore, £70 million of funding has been allocated for state-of-the-art radiotherapy machines, and to streamline approval and incentivise the use of the latest radiotherapy treatments.

Implementation of the plan’s actions, including action 20, will be monitored by the National Cancer Board, with an independent co-chair, reporting to the Department.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what accountability mechanisms will apply in instances where local strategic plans for cancer do not adequately address radiotherapy access, capacity or variation.

Answered by Sharon Hodgson

The treatment of cancer normally involves surgery, systemic anti-cancer therapy, and radiotherapy, given individually or in combination, as appropriate to the type and stage of cancer and choices made by patients, in consultation with their doctor. Under this model of care, radiotherapy is available where it has been recommended as a treatment option and where patients have chosen to receive it.

In 2025, NHS England published a report titled Indicators for Radiotherapy Utilisation, which is publicly available. The report offers valuable insights about radiotherapy utilisation and variation and is designed to assist local systems to review broader clinical practice and put in place any improvements, where these are necessary.

Radiotherapy services operate through a collaborative but clearly delineated model, where integrated care boards commission services, providers deliver care in line with national standards, and Radiotherapy Networks and Cancer Alliances support planning and coordination.

The National Cancer Plan, published in February this year, made the commitment to meet all cancer waiting time standards by the end of this Parliament. Improving timely access to radiotherapy services across the country is a key enabler to meeting the 31-day and 62-day treatment standards.

The plan also makes specific commitments to improve the productivity of radiotherapy services, including using artificial intelligence to streamline treatment planning. Furthermore, £70 million of funding has been allocated for state-of-the-art radiotherapy machines, and to streamline approval and incentivise the use of the latest radiotherapy treatments.

Implementation of the plan’s actions, including action 20, will be monitored by the National Cancer Board, with an independent co-chair, reporting to the Department.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether local strategic plans for cancer will be required to assess radiotherapy treatment access and capacity.

Answered by Sharon Hodgson

The treatment of cancer normally involves surgery, systemic anti-cancer therapy, and radiotherapy, given individually or in combination, as appropriate to the type and stage of cancer and choices made by patients, in consultation with their doctor. Under this model of care, radiotherapy is available where it has been recommended as a treatment option and where patients have chosen to receive it.

In 2025, NHS England published a report titled Indicators for Radiotherapy Utilisation, which is publicly available. The report offers valuable insights about radiotherapy utilisation and variation and is designed to assist local systems to review broader clinical practice and put in place any improvements, where these are necessary.

Radiotherapy services operate through a collaborative but clearly delineated model, where integrated care boards commission services, providers deliver care in line with national standards, and Radiotherapy Networks and Cancer Alliances support planning and coordination.

The National Cancer Plan, published in February this year, made the commitment to meet all cancer waiting time standards by the end of this Parliament. Improving timely access to radiotherapy services across the country is a key enabler to meeting the 31-day and 62-day treatment standards.

The plan also makes specific commitments to improve the productivity of radiotherapy services, including using artificial intelligence to streamline treatment planning. Furthermore, £70 million of funding has been allocated for state-of-the-art radiotherapy machines, and to streamline approval and incentivise the use of the latest radiotherapy treatments.

Implementation of the plan’s actions, including action 20, will be monitored by the National Cancer Board, with an independent co-chair, reporting to the Department.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the level of unmet need for radiotherapy among cancer patients in England.

Answered by Sharon Hodgson

The treatment of cancer normally involves surgery, systemic anti-cancer therapy, and radiotherapy, given individually or in combination, as appropriate to the type and stage of cancer and choices made by patients, in consultation with their doctor. Under this model of care, radiotherapy is available where it has been recommended as a treatment option and where patients have chosen to receive it.

In 2025, NHS England published a report titled Indicators for Radiotherapy Utilisation, which is publicly available. The report offers valuable insights about radiotherapy utilisation and variation and is designed to assist local systems to review broader clinical practice and put in place any improvements, where these are necessary.

Radiotherapy services operate through a collaborative but clearly delineated model, where integrated care boards commission services, providers deliver care in line with national standards, and Radiotherapy Networks and Cancer Alliances support planning and coordination.

The National Cancer Plan, published in February this year, made the commitment to meet all cancer waiting time standards by the end of this Parliament. Improving timely access to radiotherapy services across the country is a key enabler to meeting the 31-day and 62-day treatment standards.

The plan also makes specific commitments to improve the productivity of radiotherapy services, including using artificial intelligence to streamline treatment planning. Furthermore, £70 million of funding has been allocated for state-of-the-art radiotherapy machines, and to streamline approval and incentivise the use of the latest radiotherapy treatments.

Implementation of the plan’s actions, including action 20, will be monitored by the National Cancer Board, with an independent co-chair, reporting to the Department.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the annual farming budget is for (a) 2025–26 and (b) 2026–27; and how the spending is broken down for each year.

Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Government has allocated a record £11.8 billion to sustainable farming and food production over this parliament. On 12 March 2025 we set out how we planned to spend the budget (£5 billion) across the 2024/25 and 2025/26 financial years.

On 16 June 2025, following the 2025 Spending Review, we set out indicative funding figures for the 2026-27 to 2028-29 financial years, including plans to increase the amount of money paid to farmers under Environmental Land Management schemes from £800m in 2023/24 towards £2bn by 2028/29.

Please note final allocations will be agreed through departmental planning.

In line with its obligations under the Agriculture Act 2020, Defra regularly publishes an annual report, setting out commitments in the previous financial year, including Farming and Countryside Programme spend broken down by each scheme. The latest report covers the financial year 2024/25, and can be accessed here: Farming and Countryside Programme annual report.

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