Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Royal College of Radiologists report Clinical Radiology Workforce Census 2022, published on 8 June 2023, what steps they will take to address the shortfall in clinical oncologists in England.

The NHS Long Term Workforce Plan (LTWP) sets out the steps the National Health Service and its partners need to take to deliver an NHS workforce that meets the changing needs of the population over the next 15 years. It will put the workforce on a sustainable footing for the long term.

We are building our cancer workforce. In January 2024 there were over 35,200 full-time equivalent (FTE) staff in the cancer workforce, an increase of over 13,300, or 60.7% since January 2010.

Regarding clinical oncology specifically, as of January 2024, there are currently over 1,600 FTE doctors working in the speciality of clinical oncology in NHS trusts and other core organisations in England. This is 2.2% more than last year, 27.7% more than 2019, and 66.5% more than in 2010. This includes over 900 FTE consultants. This is 5.1% more than last year, 22.0% more than in 2019, and 80.2% more than in 2010.