Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the APPG for Less Survivable Cancer's report entitled Inquiry into earlier detection and faster diagnosis published in June 2025, what steps he is taking to ensure GPs identify less survivable cancers.

It is a priority for the Government to support the National Health Service to diagnose cancer, including rare and less common cancers, earlier, in order to improve outcomes, including survival rates.

We are streamlining referral routes and increasing the availability of diagnostic capacity through the roll-out of more community diagnostic centres. Additionally, we are streamlining referral routes through the implementation of a non-specific symptom pathway, for patients who present with vague and non-site-specific symptoms which do not clearly align to a tumour type.

We are also investing an additional £889 million in general practices (GPs) 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.

The National 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, including GP referral for suspected cancer. The plan will also consider how we can better identify and monitor people at increased risk of developing cancer.