Asked by: Anna Gelderd (Labour - South East Cornwall)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to support the adoption of new technologies for the diagnosis of pancreatic cancer.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
As set out in our 10-Year Health Plan, the Government is supporting NHS England to actively adopt new technologies for cancer diagnosis, with focus on artificial intelligence (AI), liquid biopsies, and advanced genomic testing to speed up diagnosis and improve patient outcomes. As part of the plan, we have also committed to the expansion of the National Institution of Clinical Excellence’s technology appraisal process to cover devices, diagnostics, and digital products.
We have invested £146 million in a partnership with pharmaceutical companies and universities to harness science and innovation to detect and treat cancer sooner through trials for new technologies, including those using AI, two of which are developing technology for the diagnosis of pancreatic cancer.
Additionally, initiatives using digital technology to improve the identification of cancer symptoms in primary care include a new £2 million National Health Service programme, funding 300 general practices (GPs) to identify pancreatic cancer early by screening high-risk patients over 60 years old with new diabetes diagnoses and unexplained weight loss for urgent testing. More than 300 GPs across England will begin using the initiative, with the roll out having already begun, and the rest to be up and running by the end of the year.
Asked by: Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what action they have taken to incentivise investment and reduce barriers in brain cancer research for the pharmaceutical and life science sector in the areas of (1) transitional research, (2) early stage research, (3) advanced novel therapeutics, (4) optimisation of existing treatments, and (5) repurposing drug trials.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Government responsibility for delivering brain cancer research is shared between the Department for Health and Social Care, with research delivered by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, with research delivered via UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). The Medical Research Council (MRC) funds fundamental discovery science through to the development and testing of new diagnostics, therapeutic interventions, and preventive measures whilst the NIHR funds applied health and care research that turns discoveries into new or improved treatments, diagnostics, medical technologies, or services.
To bridge the gap between early findings and clinical practice, the NIHR supports translational research focused on patient-centred research and healthcare. NIHR Biomedical Research Centres take leading-edge cancer research from the laboratory and rapidly translate it into clinical trials. The NIHR Innovation Observatory scans for new opportunities to identify emerging interventions or those with the potential for repurposing.
In September 2024, the NIHR announced a new approach to transform the outcomes for patients and their families who are living with brain tumours, ultimately reducing the lives lost to cancer. This will be done by maximising the United Kingdom’s clinical trials potential and working with the life sciences sector to make the UK a leading location for brain tumour research.
The UKRI offers a broad range of funding opportunities to support brain tumour research, including in partnership with industry. The MRC has actively engaged with brain tumour researchers to encourage applications The MRC has also identified the need for better disease models which informed a recent MRC-led funding opportunity to improve human in vitro models, and which resulted in two awards that will explore improving the use of human brain tumour tissue in research.
The Government is committed to furthering our investment and support for high-quality brain tumour research, ensuring that funding is used in the most meaningful and impactful way, and the NIHR continues to welcome further high-quality proposals from researchers to inform approaches to prevention, treatment, and care in relation to brain cancer.
The Department of Health and Social Care is committed to ensuring that all patients, including those with brain cancer, have access to cutting-edge clinical trials and innovative, lifesaving treatments. The forthcoming National Cancer Plan will include further details on how the National Health Service will improve diagnosis and outcomes for all cancer patients in England, including for those with brain cancer.
The Government also supports the Rare Cancers Private Members Bill. The bill will make it easier for clinical trials on brain cancer to take place in England, by ensuring the patient population can be more easily contacted by researchers.
Asked by: Lord Lebedev (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support and fund the development of the bionics and advanced prosthetics industry, including through companies such as Open Bionics, and to ensure the wider adoption and availability of those technologies through public health services.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government support the bionics and advanced prosthetics industry by funding end-to-end innovation, from early-stage research and development to clinical trials and evidence generation, via Innovate UK and the National Institute of Health and Social Care Research (NIHR).
Through NIHR, the Department funds innovative research through multiple programmes and broader infrastructure investments. The NIHR supports a range of projects developing next-generation bionic and prosthetic technologies. NIHR-funded initiatives include: the Starworks Child Prosthetics Network; the Rebel Hand Project, which is developing smart prosthetic hands for children; the Virtual Reality Prosthetics Training System; and the Brain Injury Sensory Prosthetic, which is using augmented reality for vision rehabilitation. These examples illustrate the broad support for innovation in bionics and advanced prosthetic development.
The Government is committed to ensuring that patients have access to high-quality prosthetics while supporting British innovation in healthcare technology. The NHS Supply Chain plays a vital role in supporting our health service, delivering significant value, and thereby ensuring more resources are directed to frontline patient care.
The NHS Supply Chain’s Prosthetics, Components and Associated Products Framework is due to launch on 24 November 2025 to replace the Artificial Limbs Framework. The new framework will offer over 95,000 products to provide clinical choice in order to meet patient need. The full product range, which encompasses bionics and advanced prosthetics along with repair componentry, will be made available from 12 compliant suppliers.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the (a) effectiveness and (b) value for money of (i) Roadmender technology and (ii) other advanced pothole repair systems.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government takes the condition of local roads very seriously and is determined to support local highway authorities in adopting new and innovative technologies to maintain and improve their highway networks.
This year, the Government made available an additional £500m for local highways maintenance. 25% of that uplift is subject to local highway authorities demonstrating how they are complying with best practice in highways maintenance, including in relation to adopting innovative technologies to more effectively repair potholes and improve local road condition.
Local highway authorities have a duty, under Section 41 of the Highways Act 1980, to maintain the highways network in their area. The Act does not set out specific standards of maintenance, as it is for each individual local highway authority to assess which parts of its network need repair and what standards should be applied, based upon their local knowledge and circumstances and best practice guidance. Whilst the government has no powers to override local decisions in these matters, it nonetheless encourages the adoption of best practice and innovative technologies.
Asked by: Joshua Reynolds (Liberal Democrat - Maidenhead)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when she plans to announce (a) how many Technical Excellence Colleges there will be in each (i) sector and (ii) region and (b) other matters relating to Technical Excellence Colleges.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
In August 2025, the department appointed 10 Technical Excellence Colleges (TECs) in construction, backed by £100 million in funding to deliver high-quality construction skills provision. The post-16 education and skills strategy white paper confirmed that we will now go further, expanding the TEC programme to a further 4 sectors which will include: four TECs in advanced manufacturing, five TECs in clean energy, five TECs in digital and technologies and five TECs in defence.
These new TECs, backed by £175 million, will ensure the pipeline of skilled workers into these areas, securing new defence jobs in this growing industry and will help to address shortages in engineering. Exact locations are yet to be determined, and colleges will be appointed through a fair and transparent application process. Selection processes for these TECs will start by the end of 2025, with delivery planned to begin from April 2026. Further details will be published in due course.
Asked by: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of establishing one of the five proposed Clean Energy Technical Excellence Colleges in Northern Lincolnshire.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department is introducing Technical Excellence Colleges (TECs) to specialise in training skilled workforces which industry needs in growth-driving priority sectors.
The Post-16 education and skills white paper, confirmed that the government is expanding the TEC programme to a further four sectors: clean energy, advanced manufacturing, digital and technologies, and defence. These new TECs, backed by £175 million, will secure the pipeline of skilled workers into these areas. Provider specialisms will be aligned with the priority sectors in the Industrial Strategy and Plan for Change, and in direct response to employer demand for specialist technical skills.
Exact locations are yet to be determined, and colleges will be appointed through a fair and transparent application process. The selection process for these TECs will start by the end of 2025, with delivery planned to begin from April 2026. Further details will be published in due course.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether future revenues generated from Sustainable Aviation Fuel mandate buy-out penalties will be spent on aviation sector decarbonisation.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The SAF mandate, which started in January this year, includes ambitious but deliverable targets to supply sustainable aviation fuels (SAF). Suppliers are expected to meet targets in the SAF mandate without the need to buyout. The buyout is not a revenue raising measure, and the buyout price is set at a level to ensure that unsustainable costs are not passed on to passengers.
The SAF mandate generates demand, but we are also supporting SAF supply. Including through the Advanced Fuels Fund, which for the current year has allocated £63 million, and the creation of a UK SAF Clearing House to provide advice and support to SAF producers navigating the fuel testing landscape. This is helping to remove barriers to new fuels coming to market. The Government has also introduced legislation for a Revenue Certainty Mechanism to increase investor confidence and unlock investment in UK SAF production.
In addition to our considerable commitments on SAF, we are supporting the sector to transition to greener aviation through a range of measures, including delivering the airspace modernisation programme, which will see cleaner, quicker and quieter journeys, and major funding for new technologies through the Aerospace Technology Institute (ATI).
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West and Islwyn)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps she is taking to support the creation of new pilot lines for photonics.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The UK’s Modern Industrial Strategy recognises the opportunity to capitalise on our strength in photonics, chip design, and advanced technologies. To deliver this, DSIT is considering infrastructure needs as recommended by the Royal Academy of Engineering’s quantum infrastructure review.
The UK already has strengths in photonics including Scotland’s photonics cluster, supported by centres like the James Watt Nanofabrication Centre and the Fraunhofer Centre for Applied Photonics. UK universities, such as Southampton and Cambridge, contribute to European photonics pilot lines with DSIT funding. The DSIT-funded Innovation and Knowledge Centre at Cornerstone focuses on commercial translation of silicon photonics research.
Asked by: Josh Fenton-Glynn (Labour - Calder Valley)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department is taking to expand defence procurement processes to enable greater participation by (a) advanced manufacturers in the Calder Valley valve industry and (b) other small and medium sized businesses.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) hold a crucial place in UK defence. They are the backbone of the UK economy and are vital to delivering the innovation, expertise and agility that we need now and in the future. This is recognised in the Defence Industrial Strategy, as well as the Department’s Social Value policy.
We work with our largest suppliers through a network of their SME Champions, trade associations and SME representatives to ensure that smaller companies have access to opportunities in our supply chain and that our prime contractors are adopting policies, such as fair payment practices, that support small businesses working in defence. We are also introducing a new SME Commercial Pathway as part of our broader acquisition transformation. Through this pathway, Defence will increase the number of opportunities for SMEs, and make our contracting processes simpler, less onerous and faster.
This Government has already announced an ambitious but achievable target to spend £7.5 billion with SMEs by 2028 which will see direct spend increase by approximately £700 million during the next three years, and we will launch a new Office For Small Business Growth to provide SMEs with better access to the defence supply chain, ensuring that thousands of small businesses in the UK, including those in the Calder Valley, continue to lead the way in developing the world-beating technologies and services that we will need.
Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what estimate her Department has made of the value of research and development projects to be launched under the Tech Prosperity Deal in the next 12 months.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
During the unveiling of the UK-US Technology Prosperity Deal in September 2025, over £31 billion worth of investments and partnerships into the UK were unveiled. These will focus on building new data centres and growing AI start-ups, cutting edge tech as well as developing advanced quantum computers.
In the accompanying MoU, the UK and US committed to collaborate on further initiatives across AI, quantum and nuclear technologies. We are still in the process of scoping out these collaborations with US counterparts; it is too early to comment on their value.