Asked by: Lorraine Beavers (Labour - Blackpool North and Fleetwood)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of integrating all at risk screening for breast cancer into the National NHS Breast Screening Programme.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The new and world-leading NHS National Inherited Cancer Predisposition Registry (NICPR), part of the National Disease Registration Service, will help the National Health Service to deliver proactive, targeted prevention, surveillance, and earlier diagnosis for people and their families. Women at Very High Risk (VHR) of breast cancer are now identified within the NICPR and referred into the NHS Breast Screening Programme (NHSBSP), which has enabled reconciliation to ensure that all identified women are safely referred into the programme. This is a step towards a fully electronic referral VHR process into the NHSBSP.
The Government is advised on all screening matters by the UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC), an independent scientific advisory committee which is made up of leading medical and screening experts. Where the UK NSC is confident that offering screening provides more good than harm, they recommend a screening programme.
In 2022 the remit of the UK NSC was expanded to include targeted, and risk stratified screening, in addition to population screening. So far, the UK NSC has not made a recommendation for targeted screening of women at a moderate or high risk of breast cancer.
Currently, if women reach the criteria for moderate or high- risk screening with surveillance recommended, this is offered as part of screening provision managed locally with NHS trusts.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Friern Barnet)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how the National Cancer Plan will support people with secondary breast cancer.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Cancer Plan, published 4 February 2026, will transform outcomes for people with secondary breast cancer.
The National Health Service is piloting the use of self-referral breast cancer pathways to streamline diagnostic pathways using the NHS App and NHS 111 online service. This is in addition to the Government’s commitment for the NHS to deliver 9.5 million additional tests by 2029 through a £2.3 billion investment in diagnostics. We are also ensuring as many community diagnostic centres as possible are fully operational and open 12 hours a day, seven days a week.
To improve the diagnosis of breast cancer, the NHS will harness 'circulating tumour DNA' tests for breast cancer, which can pick up relapse months earlier. This will accelerate clinical decisions and allow patients to start the most effective treatment faster.
The NHS will monitor the emerging evidence from the BRAID trial, which aims to determine whether additional imaging with one of several types of scans, is helpful in diagnosing breast cancer in women with dense breast tissue. This will target screening programmes at women who are at greater risk of cancer.
The NHS is also improving the experience of those with a cancer diagnosis. Every patient diagnosed with cancer will be supported through a full neighbourhood-level personalised care package, covering mental and physical health as well as any practical or financial concerns. For people with secondary breast cancer, this will be a step forward in building care around them, their needs, their lives, and their families.
We will harness data, as we begin counting metastatic disease, starting with breast cancer, so that people living with incurable cancer are properly recognised and better supported.
Through these National Cancer Plan actions, we will ensure that people with secondary breast cancer have faster diagnoses and treatment, access to the latest treatments and technology, and high-quality support throughout their journey, while we work to drive up this country’s cancer survival rates.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has identified general dental practices participating in locally commissioned schemes to provide prioritised oral healthcare for patients undergoing cancer treatment.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is working to ensure that patients who have a diagnosis of cancer receive timely, safe, and effective dental care.
NHS England has produced guidelines which aim to ensure that patients across England with a diagnosis of cancer, including oral cancer, have equitable access to oral healthcare. This could include oral health assessments, prevention, rehabilitation, and reconstruction in primary, either National Health Service or independent, community, secondary, or tertiary care settings. This would be provided as part of a multi-disciplinary team care plan. Ongoing oral health management for the duration of the cancer therapy would take place. Further information can be found at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/oral-healthcare-provision-for-cancer-pathways/
The responsibility for commissioning primary care dentistry to meet the needs of the local population is delegated to the integrated care boards (ICBs) across England. In the South West a number of pilot models are being trialled, for example, if a patient does not have 'a usual dental practice’ and has primary dental care requirements, they will be referred to specific general dental practices, referred to as cancer action support practices, based in ICBs where the pathway is running.
Participation in schemes supporting patients undergoing cancer treatment does not create any automatic entitlement to additional contractual or financial support. Any supplementary funding, including through flexible commissioning, is determined locally and subject to commissioner discretion, identified local need, and available resources.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps NHS England is taking to encourage integrated care boards to commission prioritised oral health pathways for patients undergoing cancer treatment; and whether practices that participate in such schemes are eligible for additional contractual or financial support.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is working to ensure that patients who have a diagnosis of cancer receive timely, safe, and effective dental care.
NHS England has produced guidelines which aim to ensure that patients across England with a diagnosis of cancer, including oral cancer, have equitable access to oral healthcare. This could include oral health assessments, prevention, rehabilitation, and reconstruction in primary, either National Health Service or independent, community, secondary, or tertiary care settings. This would be provided as part of a multi-disciplinary team care plan. Ongoing oral health management for the duration of the cancer therapy would take place. Further information can be found at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/oral-healthcare-provision-for-cancer-pathways/
The responsibility for commissioning primary care dentistry to meet the needs of the local population is delegated to the integrated care boards (ICBs) across England. In the South West a number of pilot models are being trialled, for example, if a patient does not have 'a usual dental practice’ and has primary dental care requirements, they will be referred to specific general dental practices, referred to as cancer action support practices, based in ICBs where the pathway is running.
Participation in schemes supporting patients undergoing cancer treatment does not create any automatic entitlement to additional contractual or financial support. Any supplementary funding, including through flexible commissioning, is determined locally and subject to commissioner discretion, identified local need, and available resources.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the level of overdiagnosis arising from opportunistic PSA testing in England in the latest period for which data is available; and whether this was modelled in the comparator arm of the UK National Screening Committee’s economic analysis.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Drawing on the available peer reviewed evidence, the Sheffield Centre for Health and Related Research (SCHARR) has undertaken economic analysis on behalf of the UK National Screening Committee.
In their modelling, in line with best practice and the standard academic approach to assessing a new screening proposal, the SCHARR team has included the best available information on current care and compared this to a number of possible scenarios for a new prostate cancer screening programme. This includes the best estimate of current opportunistic prostate-specific antigen (PSA) testing.
There is little published data available that can determine between PSAs sought by asymptomatic males at their general practices (GPs), opportunistic PSA testing, and other types of PSAs in use which can include testing for symptomatic males where this could support a diagnosis and for men who are on a range of treatment pathways for known prostate cancer.
A prostate cancer screening programme would be most likely to add to the number of PSA tests because GPs have the right to offer a PSA test in line with their clinical judgement and this would continue outside of any screening programme. This is consistent with other screening programmes including, for example, access to the faecal immunochemical tests outside of the NHS Bowel Cancer Screening Programme.
The risk of overdiagnosis identified in the SCHARR model is in line with other international evidence-based prostate screening models which have been developed by academics in line with standard academic approaches and are underpinned by high quality published evidence.
New data on PSA uptake was published after the completion of the modelling report and will be incorporated into further model iterations before the completion of the consultation period.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the UK National Screening Committee’s modelling assumes that the introduction of a prostate cancer screening programme would be additional to, or would partially replace, existing opportunistic PSA testing in primary care.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Drawing on the available peer reviewed evidence, the Sheffield Centre for Health and Related Research (SCHARR) has undertaken economic analysis on behalf of the UK National Screening Committee.
In their modelling, in line with best practice and the standard academic approach to assessing a new screening proposal, the SCHARR team has included the best available information on current care and compared this to a number of possible scenarios for a new prostate cancer screening programme. This includes the best estimate of current opportunistic prostate-specific antigen (PSA) testing.
There is little published data available that can determine between PSAs sought by asymptomatic males at their general practices (GPs), opportunistic PSA testing, and other types of PSAs in use which can include testing for symptomatic males where this could support a diagnosis and for men who are on a range of treatment pathways for known prostate cancer.
A prostate cancer screening programme would be most likely to add to the number of PSA tests because GPs have the right to offer a PSA test in line with their clinical judgement and this would continue outside of any screening programme. This is consistent with other screening programmes including, for example, access to the faecal immunochemical tests outside of the NHS Bowel Cancer Screening Programme.
The risk of overdiagnosis identified in the SCHARR model is in line with other international evidence-based prostate screening models which have been developed by academics in line with standard academic approaches and are underpinned by high quality published evidence.
New data on PSA uptake was published after the completion of the modelling report and will be incorporated into further model iterations before the completion of the consultation period.
Asked by: Luke Akehurst (Labour - North Durham)
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 views and lived experience of teenagers and young adults with cancer are being incorporated into his forthcoming national cancer plan; and how their involvement will be reflected in the plan’s publication and launch.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department is committed to improving outcomes for teenagers and young adults with cancer. The Children and Young People Cancer Taskforce was relaunched on 4 February 2025 to identify tangible ways to improve outcomes and experiences for young cancer patients. The taskforce will explore opportunities for improvement in England, including detection and diagnosis, genomic testing and treatment, research and innovation, and patient experience. The taskforce will ensure that the unique needs of children and young people, including teenagers and young adults with cancer, are carefully considered as part of the forthcoming National Cancer Plan.
The Government is committed to including the views and lived experience of teenagers and young adults in the National Cancer Plan. That is why the Department has worked with the Children and Young People Cancer taskforce members to assemble a Patient Experience Panel of people with lived experience of cancer. The panel is made up of a diverse group, including parents of children with cancer, young adults who were diagnosed with cancer as teenagers, and those who were diagnosed as children.
As part of the Department’s engagement to inform the development of the forthcoming National Cancer Plan, officials from the Department’s cancer team have worked closely with patient organisations, clinicians, and cancer partners, and has considered over 11,000 responses to the call for evidence. These included submissions from Teenage Cancer Trust, Ellen MacArthur Cancer Trust, Young Lives vs Cancer, CCLG: The Children and Young People's Cancer Association, and so on.
Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
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 improve diagnostic services for cancer in Buckingham and Bletchley constituency.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Improving cancer services, including diagnostic capacity and treatment infrastructure, is a priority for the Government.
The Government is committed to meeting all three National Health Service cancer waiting time standards across England. We are committed to transforming diagnostic services and will support the NHS to meet demand through investment in new capacity, including magnetic resonance imaging and computed tomography scanners. As of December 2025, community diagnostic centres are now delivering additional tests and checks on 170 sites across the country.
The forthcoming National Cancer Plan will set out further details as to how patients across England, including in Buckingham and Bletchley, will benefit from improved diagnostic services and cancer care infrastructure.
Funding for cancer pathways is multi-layered. The integrated care board uses the core Government allocation to commission services from providers, including cancer-related activity. Specialised commissioning directs funding towards specialist areas of healthcare, such as paediatric oncology and chemotherapy.
The East of England Cancer Alliance has been allocated approximately £16 million of revenue funds for 2026/27 which will support targeted programmes of work. The process to allocate these funds is currently live. System priorities have been identified and funding requests have been submitted for consideration.
Asked by: Lord Kamall (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to improve the five-year survival rates for brain cancer.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Improving outcomes and survival rates remain a firm priority for the Government across all cancer types. However, we recognise that for rarer cancers, such as brain cancers, which are harder to diagnose and treat, survival rates are too low, and this needs to drastically change.
Research is vital in improving survival rates, which is why in December 2025 the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) announced the pioneering Brain Tumour Research Consortium to accelerate research into new brain tumour treatments. The world-leading consortium aims to transform outcomes for adults and children and their families who are living with brain tumours, ultimately reducing lives lost to cancer. The NIHR is investing an initial £13.7 million, with significant further funding due to be awarded early in the new year.
Reducing the number of lives lost to cancer will be a key aim of the National Cancer Plan for England, which is due to be published shortly. The plan will include further details on how we will improve outcomes for cancer patients, including brain cancer patients, as well as speeding up diagnosis and treatment.
Asked by: Helen Maguire (Liberal Democrat - Epsom and Ewell)
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 decrease treatment wait times for patients with metastatic ocular melanoma.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department remains committed to ensuring that cancer patients, including those with metastatic ocular melanoma, have timely access to treatment and tailored medical support.
The Government supports Scott Arthur’s Private Members Bill on rare cancers which will make it easier for clinical trials into rare cancers to take place in England by ensuring the patient population can be easily contacted by researchers. This will ensure that the National Health Service will remain at the forefront of medical innovation and is able to provide patients with the newest, most effective treatment options, and ultimately boost survival rates.
The forthcoming National Cancer Plan will include further details on how we will improve outcomes for patients with cancer, as well as speeding up diagnosis and treatment, ensuring patients have access to the latest treatments and technology, and ultimately driving up this country’s cancer survival rates. This will benefit all cancer patients, including metastatic ocular melanoma patients.