Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the potential impact of AI on detecting cancer.

The Department is testing artificial intelligence (AI) in areas that cause the most harm to health and to our economy. Through the £113 million AI award, a number of technologies that support with cancer diagnosis have been tested.

In addition, the £21 million AI diagnostic fund is focused on technologies that support with lung cancer diagnosis, such as chest x-rays and chest computed tomography scans.

On top of this, on 4 February 2025, the Department announced that nearly 700,000 women across the country will take part in a world-leading trial to test how cutting-edge AI tools can be used to catch breast cancer cases earlier. The Early Detection using Information Technology in Health, or EDITH, trial is backed by £11 million of Government support via the National Institute for Health and Care Research.