Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what measures he will use to assess the Government's success in reducing waiting lists for cancer (a) diagnosis and (b) treatment; and if he will make a statement.

NHS England collects and publishes a range of data to help assess cancer waiting time performance. This work includes their monthly publication of performance data against the nine cancer standards. These standards include the Faster Diagnosis Standard and 31-day standards in respect of cancer treatment.

On referrals, November 2022 saw the highest number of urgent general practice referrals for cancer ever, with nearly 265,000 patients referred.

On cancer treatment, over 321,000 people received their first cancer treatment from December 2021 to November 2022, up by more than 10,000 on the same period pre-pandemic.