Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to enable the NHS to recruit additional specialist staff to improve early diagnosis of cancer.

The NHS People Plan – 2020/21, sets out actions to support transformation across the whole NHS, including the following commitment on the cancer workforce.

In 2021, Health Education England is prioritising the training of 400 clinical endoscopists and 450 reporting radiographers. Training grants are being offered for 350 nurses to become cancer nurse specialists and chemotherapy nurses, training 58 biomedical scientists, developing an advanced clinical practice qualification in oncology, and extending cancer support-worker training.

Many of these staff will be trained to improve early diagnosis of cancer.