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 effect of the covid-19 outbreak on the delivery of cancer treatment.

From March 2020 to the end of February 2021, over two million people have been urgently referred and over 520,000 people started receiving cancer treatment. First and subsequent cancer treatments have been maintained at 87% of the level in 2019.

The National Health Service priorities and operational planning guidance for 2021/22 sets out plans to accelerate the restoration of elective and cancer care. Local systems, drawing on advice and analysis from their Cancer Alliance, will ensure that there is sufficient diagnostic and treatment capacity in place to meet the needs of cancer to return the number of people waiting for longer than 62 days to the level of February 2020 or to the national average in February 2020 where this is lower and meet the increased level of referrals and treatment required to address the shortfall in number of first treatments by March 2022.