Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has to (a) expand radiotherapy services and (b) waiting times for radiotherapy treatments.

The Government knows that cancer patients are waiting too long for a diagnosis and treatment. We will get the National Health Service diagnosing cancer on time, diagnosing it earlier, and treating it faster, so that more patients survive this horrible set of diseases, and we will improve patients’ experience across the system. As part of this, we are committed to bringing down waits for cancer appointments with a Fit For the Future fund, providing the number of computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, and other tests that are needed to reduce elective and cancer waiting times, thereby saving lives.

The Government will continue to support the provision of radiotherapy machines, however, since April 2022 the responsibility for investing in new radiotherapy machines has been with local systems.