Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate NHS England has made of the number of linear accelerator radiotherapy machines in use at NHS hospitals in (a) the North West, (b) Merseyside and (c) Wirral that have exceeded the recommended 10 year lifespan.

NHS England produced a stocktake, which included age, of linear accelerators in full clinical use in 2016 as part of the Equipment Modernisation programme, which enabled 80 machines to be replaced or upgraded. Further work to update this stocktake is underway to reflect both the impact of the Equipment Modernisation programme and any local changes.