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 help support research into invasive lobular breast cancer in Surrey Heath constituency.

The Government recognises the crucial need for research into all forms of cancer, including lobular breast cancer. It remains committed to the role of research to drive a stronger collective understanding of the biology behind lobular breast cancer and to improve outcomes for women.

Government responsibility for delivering cancer research is shared between the Department for Health and Social Care, with research delivered by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, with research delivered via UK Research and Innovation, which includes the Medical Research Council.

In November 2025, the NIHR issued a highlight notice encouraging applications for new research into lobular breast cancer, to improve the detection, diagnosis, treatment, and long-term surveillance of patients.

As well as funding research itself, NIHR invests significantly in research expertise and capacity, specialist facilities, support services, and collaborations, known as NIHR infrastructure. NIHR infrastructure enables the country’s leading experts to develop and deliver high-quality translational, clinical, and applied research. For example, the NIHR’s Royal Surrey Clinical Research Facility is a partnership between the Royal Surrey NHS Foundation Trust and the University of Surrey, where researchers deliver early-phase and complex studies, including in cancer.

The NIHR continues to welcome high quality funding applications for research, including from researchers in Surrey Heath, into any aspect of human health and care, including lobular breast cancer.