Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government which cancer networks have been told by commissioners that their funding will be cut next financial year; and what is the percentage cut to their budgets.

The Government has committed significant investment to improving cancer care with a focus on reducing waiting times for diagnosis and treatment. This includes approximately £1.5 billion capital funding in 2025/26 for new surgical hubs and diagnostic scanners, creating capacity for over 30,000 more procedures and 1.25 million diagnostic tests. Furthermore, we have already hit our pledge early to deliver over two million more elective care appointments.

We are ensuring patients get care faster by halving the number of targets in Operational Planning Guidance and by transferring a higher proportion of funding than ever before directly to local systems with minimised ringfencing. These steps allow local leaders maximum flexibility to plan better and more efficient services.

To deliver on our priorities to diagnose and treat cancer faster, Service Development Funding will be rolled into rolled into core allocations. This means the total allocation for Cancer Alliances in 2025/26 is £379 million compared to £419 million in 2024/25, a reduction of approximately 9% as funding is transferred to different priorities. Further information is available on the revenue finance and contracting guidance for 2025/26 on NHS England’s website.