Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 4 February 2025 to Question 26821 on Children and Young People Cancer Taskforce, whether the taskforce plans to engage with (a) families with lived experience of childhood cancer, (b) children’s cancer charities and (c) other representative groups.

The Children and Young People Cancer Taskforce will be engaging with experts from across the sector, from clinicians, researchers, advocates, and those with lived experience, and its membership will also be reflective of diverse patient needs. The taskforce is committed to considering patient experience alongside clinical care to improve the outcomes and experiences of children and young people with cancer and their families.

Department officials are working with chairs of the taskforce to develop the Terms of Reference ahead of the first meeting, currently planned for March 2025. The taskforce will consider the most appropriate dissemination routes or publication channels for taskforce materials in due course.

We expect the taskforce to run for six months with the possibility of extension. The taskforce will feed into, and report in line with the publication of the National Cancer Plan.