Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what action his Department is taking to ensure that 85 per cent of breast cancer patients start treatment within 62 days of urgent referral.

We will support the National Health Service to increase capacity to meet the demand for diagnostic services through investment in new magnetic resonance imaging and computed tomography scanners. The Government is investing an extra £26 billion in the NHS and is opening up community diagnostic centres at evening and weekends, to help catch cancer earlier, including breast cancer.

The NHS has exceeded its pledge to deliver an extra two million appointments, having now delivered over five million more appointments as the first step to ensuring earlier and faster access to treatment. Between October 2024 to September 2025, approximately 139,000 more patients were diagnosed or had cancer ruled out within 28 days compared to the previous 12 months.

To ensure that the most advanced treatment is available to the patients who need it, and so that patients can be treated sooner, the Government has invested £70 million of central funding to replace outdated radiotherapy machines.