Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make it his policy to set a target of reducing overall cancer mortality in the UK by 15% by 2040.

Professor Lord Darzi’s report set out that the United Kingdom has higher mortality from cancer than neighbouring countries, the Nordic countries, and other English-speaking countries, using data published by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

The Government’s Health Mission sets the objective of building a National Health Service fit for the future and reducing lives lost to the biggest killers, including cancer. We have launched a 10-Year Health Plan to reform the NHS and make it fit for the future. The plan will set out a bold agenda to deliver on the three big shifts needed to move healthcare from hospital to the community, analogue to digital, sickness to prevention and will be co-designed with the public, staff, and patients.

My rt. Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, has been clear that there should be a National Cancer Plan. The National Cancer Plan will include further details on how we will improve outcomes for cancer patients, by speeding up diagnosis and treatment and ensuring patients have access to the latest treatments and technology. We are now in discussions about what form that Plan should take, what the overarching goal should be, and what its relationship to the 10-Year Health Plan and the Government’s wider Health Mission should be.