Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he has taken to work with relevant authorities to improve the (a) research, (b) diagnosis and (c) treatment of ocular cancers.

The Department funds cancer research via the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). The NIHR spent £133 million on cancer research in 2023/24. An example of this investment includes the NIHR Clinical Research Facilities (CRFs), which are dedicated facilities in National Health Service hospitals where researchers deliver early-phase and complex studies, including in cancer. In 2022, the NIHR invested £161 million in 28 facilities over five years to create dedicated spaces for high-risk experimental medicine studies, such as first-in-patient trials.

The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health and care, including ocular cancers. These applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made on the basis of the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money, and scientific quality. Welcoming applications on ocular cancers to all NIHR programmes enables maximum flexibility both in terms of the amount of research funding a particular area can be awarded, and the type of research which can be funded.

The Department works closely with NHS England in taking steps to improve diagnostic and treatment waiting times for all cancers, including ocular cancer. We are committed to transforming diagnostic services and will support the NHS to increase capacity to meet the demand for diagnostic services through investment in new capacity, including magnetic resonance imaging and computerized tomography scanners. In addition, £70 million will be spent on new radiotherapy machines, to ensure the most advanced treatment is available to patients who need it.

In December 2024, the National Institute for Clinical Excellence approved the treatment of tebentafusp for uveal melanoma, a form of ocular cancer. This treatment has now been rolled out to patients across England with inoperable ocular cancer.

Improving outcomes for rarer cancers, like ocular cancer, is an area of focus for the National Cancer Plan. The plan’s overarching goal will be to reduce the number of lives lost to cancer over the next ten years.