Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many and what proportion of people with cancer aged between 13 and 24 are enrolled in clinical trials.

The Government published ‘Saving and Improving Lives: The Future of UK Clinical Research Delivery’ in March 2021. The phase 2 implementation plan for the vision, published in June 2021, aims to make it easier for all patients, including cancer patients, to access relevant research.

Clinical trials are funded by a range of public, charity and commercial organisations, including by the Department via the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). In 2022/23, the NIHR Clinical Research Network recruited 35,737 participants to cancer studies. Information on the age of participants enrolled in NIHR-funded clinical trials is not currently collated centrally by NIHR and could only be obtained at disproportionate costs.