Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress he has made on creating new community diagnostic centres.

At present, there are 89 community diagnostic centres (CDCs) operational across the country, and these have delivered over 2.8 million additional tests since programme started reporting in July 2021. In December 2022, my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, approved a further 20 locations for new CDCs across the country, which will help more people to easily access life-saving checks, tests and scans. The NHS has also delivered the first of its waiting time ambitions, with waits of two years or more for elective surgery virtually eliminated in July 2022.