Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the criteria are for deciding which local bids will receive part of the additional £200 million funding announced by NHS England in December 2016 to improve local cancer services in England.

In December 2016 NHS England announced that a £200 million fund will be available to Cancer Alliances and the national cancer vanguard over the next two years to specifically support the areas the Cancer Taskforce’s strategy estimated would need additional investment, including supporting earlier diagnosis and the full roll out of the Recovery Package.

NHS England received bids from all alliances on 18 January 2017. The bids have been assessed by a national panel on the basis of a pre-determined set of criteria, reflecting the value they offer and the panel’s confidence of delivery. The appraisal criteria is available at:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/stps/tf-call-to-bid/