Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate his Department has made of the number of specialist centres required to ensure wide and equitable access to radioligand therapies and targeted treatments on the NHS in the next 12 months.

Radioligand therapy has not been licensed and has yet to receive approval from the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence, therefore no assessment has been made.

Recent advances in radiotherapy using cutting-edge imaging and computing technology have helped target radiation doses at cancer cells more precisely. This includes proton beam therapy and stereotactic ablative body radiotherapy (SABR), both of which are available on the National Health Service. The Government has committed £250 million capital investment into two proton beam therapy facilities for the United Kingdom, at The Christie Hospital in Manchester and University College London Hospitals in London. SABR will be available as a treatment option through routine commissioning.