Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many Linear Accelerator machines NHS England purchased as a result of the £130 million funding allocated to the Linear Accelerator programme in (a) 2016-17, (b) 2017-18 and (c) 2018-19; and how many machines it plans to purchase in (i) 2019-20 and (ii) 2020-21 as a result of that programme.

Since October 2016, the Radiotherapy Modernisation Programme has funded over 80 replacement or upgraded Linear Accelerators (LINACs) and additional networking capability. The breakdown of equipment funded is as follows:

- 2016/17 – 18 replacement LINACs and 12 upgrades;

- 2017/18 – 26 replacement LINACs; and

- 2018/19 – 25 replacement LINACs, one upgrade and seven treatment planning systems.

Decisions on further funding in future years have not yet been taken and will depend partly on the outcome of the Spending Review later this year.