Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether NHS England plans to publish its completed gap analysis of freezer capacity for the fresh freezing and storage of brain tumour tissue; and if he will publish the underlying data from that analysis.

NHS England has completed a gap analysis of the need for freezer capacity and is looking at how to support services to provide an equitable expansion of that capacity. 

The Department and NHS England will work with professional bodies, including the Royal College of Pathologists, to review tissue retention guidance and consent processes.

The Department is looking at ways to support trusts to expand freezer capacity, and will provide an update on this in the autumn.

There are no plans to publish the full gap analysis. The data is management information which is not routinely published.