Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to his Oral Statement of 6 January 2026 on Health and Adult Social Care Reform, Official Report, Column 597, where new diagnostic centres in (a) Essex and (b) Suffolk will be based.

The Elective Reform Plan, published on 6 January 2025, sets out that we will deliver additional community diagnostic centre (CDC) capacity in 2025/26 by expanding a number of existing CDCs and building up to five new ones.

Capital investment agreed at the 2025 Spending Review and announced in the Autumn Statement will be allocated to local National Health Service systems by NHS England, and details on this will be released as part of upcoming capital planning guidance. The investment will support a range of initiatives, including supporting systems to deliver against the government's ambition to return to the 18-week constitutional standard.

NHS England will work with local systems to identify the most appropriate locations for investments, including new CDCs, and expansions of existing CDCs. A key factor they will consider is that new CDCs are positioned in a location which addresses local need and will address health inequalities.