Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps the (a) National Cancer Intelligence Network and (b) National Cancer Registration and Advisory Service are taking to address gaps in data on (i) screening, (ii) access to services, (iii) cancer staging and (iv) age-related inequalities among the Irish community resident in England.

The National Cancer Intelligence Network was merged with the National Cancer Registration Service in 2016 to form the National Cancer Registration and Analysis Service (NCRAS). Public Health England’s (PHE’s) National Cancer Registration and Analysis Service collects data on all cancers diagnosed in people living in England. NCRAS is working continuously to to improve the quality and completeness of the data held. This includes NCRAS data liaison teams working with the National Health Service trusts to help them submit more high-quality data to the Cancer Register. This has led to more than 85% of cancers diagnosed in 2015 having a complete stage. NCRAS is also working closely with colleagues in PHE Screening to access more screening information in a timely manner.

In addition, NCRAS is using multiple data sources to increase the completeness of data on a person’s ethnic group; to the point where this is now known for 92% of cases. Although we have not carried out any assessment on White Irish people, it is recognised that minority ethnic groups have varied experience of access to cancer services. NCRAS is working with Cancer Research UK on the National Cancer Diagnosis Audit which will help identify variation on cancer diagnosis and related inequalties. The audit has recently finished collecting data on patients diagnosed in 2014, with initial results expected in the summer. Age is also an important factor in cancer inequalities, and by collecting date of birth NCRAS is able to incorporate age into any analyses.