Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if NHS England will publish the data it holds on the effectiveness of radiotherapy machines which deliver more doses of radiation; and for what reason guidance on future purchases of radiotherapy machines requires a minimum of 9,000 fractions per annum.

The funding for new radiotherapy machines will be used to replace outdated machines, and allocated to trusts using criteria that NHS England has developed. The new machines will support the recovery of cancer waiting times and help ensure that patients have access to the most up-to-date treatments. The £70 million central funding is not intended to replace every machine aged 10 years and older, and the spending on machines remains the responsibility of local systems.

There are no plans to extend the 22 January 2025 deadline, nor has the relevant NHS England team received any requests from providers to do so. NHS England is working with providers to ensure they can get applications completed in time.

There are no plans for an assessment of the potential merits of requiring NHS England to include the cost of artificial intelligence products with this funding.

NHS England does not hold any data on the effectiveness of radiotherapy machines relative to the number of doses that they deliver. NHS England has set out a technical specification for linear accelerators with three options that providers need to choose between, however, the technical specification does not make any requirement about the number of fractions to be delivered.