Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what progress has been made by the working group established to develop a robust process to support the sustainable long-term commissioning of cancer drugs; when he expects the outcomes of their work to be published; and what steps he will take to reduce variations in access to cancer drugs depending on when an application to the Cancer Drugs Fund is made.

NHS England has advised that its Cancer Drugs Fund Working Party has held its first meeting and discussed its draft principles and terms of reference for its work.

The Cancer Drugs Fund (CDF) runs a notification system for drug/indications included on the national CDF list. In order to commence treatment with these drugs, clinicians complete an application online and, where a patient’s needs meet the clinical criteria, they are able to access the drug(s) without any administrative delay. This is an equal system for all if the conditions are met for the drug/indication.

If the drug/indication is not on the national CDF list, an individual CDF request can be made. These are currently assessed on a regional basis. NHS England works closely with the regional teams to ensure consistency in decision making through training, sharing information and the use of a shared database.