Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 20 February 2017 to Question 63820, if he will take steps to increase the maximum length of time for which data can be collected on treatments funded from the Cancer Drugs Fund from two to three years.

There is no maximum length of time for which data can be collected on treatments funded from the Cancer Drugs Fund (CDF). The duration in the CDF for a cancer drug is determined on an individual basis by the time required for such data development/collection to take place. This will depend on the disease concerned, the data that needs to be examined, the clinical trials that may be already running, and considerations of cancer treatment pathways in England. The time that a drug stays in the CDF is therefore individually assessed and agreed with NHS England, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence and the company concerned. The timeframe will normally be up to two years, but will be considered on a case by case basis.