Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential correlation between areas with higher levels of deprivation and trends in the level of cancer diagnosis.

Making improvements across different cancer types is critical to reducing disparities in cancer survival. We recognize that there are challenges for several different populations, particularly for people living in the most deprived areas of the country.

We are directly targeting activity at areas that we know will make a difference. This includes awareness campaigns such as the NHS Help Us, Help You campaign, to increase awareness of cancer symptoms and encourage people to get checked.

We know that some cancers disproportionately impact those living in deprived areas, notably lung cancer. The Lung Cancer Screening Programme is a national screening programme, targeted at those aged between 55 and 74 years old with a history of smoking. It is designed to identify cancers at an earlier stage and has led to over 3,000 more lung cancers being diagnosed at such a stage. Furthermore, NHS England’s Core20PLUS5 approach informs action to reduce healthcare inequalities, including for early cancer diagnosis.

The NHS England Cancer Programme commissions clinical cancer audits, which provide timely evidence for cancer service providers of where patterns of care in England may vary, increase the consistency of access to treatments, and help stimulate improvements in cancer treatment and outcomes for patients. Rather than a single audit, NHS England commissions ten audits, by tumour type.

We are investing an additional £889 million in general practice to reinforce the front door of the NHS, bringing total spend on the GP Contract to £13.2 billion in 2025/26. This is the biggest increase in over a decade.

Finally, the recently announced Cancer Plan, which will complement the 10-Year Health Plan and support delivery of the Government’s Health Mission, will set out further actions to improve early diagnosis.