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 ensure that the NHS has the capacity to catch up on the backlog of cancer (a) tests and (b) treatments which have accrued as a result of being postponed due to the covid-19 outbreak.

The National Health Service is working to restore the full operation of all cancer services, with local delivery plans being delivered by Cancer Alliances.

We are working with general practitioners and the public to restore the number of people coming forward and being referred with suspected cancer to at least pre-pandemic levels.

Sufficient diagnostic capacity in COVID-19 secure environments will be supplied through the use of independent sector facilities, the development of Community Diagnostic Hubs and Rapid Diagnostic Centres. Additionally, all cancer screening programmes will be fully restarted.