Pharmacy First: Withholding Payments

Jim Shannon Excerpts

Thursday 12th February 2026 Commons Chamber

[Dr Ahmed]

I can reassure the hon. Member that my hon. Friend the Minister for Care is looking at funding and primary care provision in the round in coastal and poorer communities, and I would be delighted to take back his representations about Pharmacy First in rural settings.

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

I thank the Minister for his answers. I want to give a helpful suggestion from a Northern Ireland perspective. He will agree that a rural pharmacy will find it more difficult to meet the ever increasing threshold, and that the point of these payments is to take pressure off GPs, not to provide a back-door way of underpaying earned compensation. In Northern Ireland, we have a slightly different system that involves payment per consultation, which I ask the Minister to consider. Perhaps that would be more appropriate, and would give pharmacies, GPs and their patients what they are looking for.

[Dr Ahmed]

I am always grateful for the hon. Gentleman’s wise counsel. He will know that I have regular meetings with my counterparts in the devolved nations. I am well aware of some of the remuneration schemes in Northern Ireland, and I am following them with interest.

Rural GPs: Funding

Jim Shannon Excerpts

Wednesday 11th February 2026 Westminster Hall

[Esther McVey]

The hon. Lady raises a very relevant point, and I agree wholeheartedly. People in lots of areas in my constituency cannot get to a GP and are bereft of a GP surgery.

Until now, we have had a measure of rurality, but this Government have instructed the National Institute for Health and Care Research to review the funding model and examine how working-class areas could benefit under a new model based on deprivation rather than workload.

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

I congratulate the right hon. Lady on bringing this subject to Westminster Hall. I am always glad to come along and support her, because she leads great and very pertinent debates. I am a resident of a rural area, and the pressure that my local GPs are under has to be seen to be believed: only three practices cover the whole Ards peninsula, which has a growing population. Does the right hon. Lady agree that funding must be available to give surgeries the potential to have physio rooms, nutrition advice and perhaps even pharmacies that provide first-stop medical advice? The cost of such facilities needs to be met by Government, because there will be savings in the long term.

[Esther McVey]

It is always good to have my hon. Friend—and I do call him my hon. Friend—intervene on me. He makes very good points. It is also important that a local GP chooses, and can see what their local constituents require and what is best for their health outcomes.

The move to a new model based on deprivation rather than workload is, at best, an act of ignorance that fails to acknowledge the significant challenges of running GP practices in rural areas; at worst, it represents yet another example of Labour’s assault on rural life. Measuring pressures on GPs solely through the lens of deprivation would ignore the complex, distinct demands faced by rural practices. Rural communities have older populations. In 2019, the House of Lords Rural Economy Select Committee found that the average age in rural areas was almost six years higher than in urban areas, and a quarter of the rural population were over the age of 65.

Hughes Report: Second Anniversary

Jim Shannon Excerpts

Wednesday 11th February 2026 Westminster Hall

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

It is a real pleasure to serve under your chairship, Dr Allin-Khan. I thank the hon. Member for Chesham and Amersham (Sarah Green) for giving us the opportunity to contribute, and allowing me to mention Northern Ireland and what is happening there. It is a pleasure to see the Minister in her place, and I thank her for all she does.

The Hughes report was for England only, but the ripple effect is UK-wide. As of February 2026, Northern Ireland victims remain in limbo. The Northern Ireland Department of Health has stated that its approach will be informed by the final position of the UK Government—right here—but their final position has not been determined. Because nothing has been done here, nothing happens in Northern Ireland, so we are being affected. I know that the Minister will be responsive, but I ask her to give us some indication of the timescale.

Patients continue to contact me and Members of the Legislative Assembly in an attempt to see the adoption of the report’s recommendation, and the phrasing is that families feel abandoned by the lack of progress and financial compensation. I can understand that the Department of Health (NI) needs guidance from Westminster; the UK as a whole is waiting to see what implementation and redress will look like. While financial payments are stalled, some progress has been made on the non-financial report, with the continued operation of specialist mesh centres and improved clinical guidelines for prescribing valproates. That is welcome but—to put it simply—it is not enough.

[Carla Lockhart (Upper Bann) (DUP)]

Women have been left in lifelong pain; children have been born with preventable disabilities; families have endured financial and emotional stress; many women have lost their jobs, their homes and even their marriages. Does my hon. Friend agree that, although financial and non-financial support are important, to prevent such issues in the future it is also important that the dots are joined up early and that early warning signs are not buried in bureaucracy?

[Jim Shannon]

I thank my hon. Friend for her intervention. A specially accredited unit operates at Belfast city hospital, featuring a multidisciplinary team to treat mesh-related problems. If complex removal surgery is required, there is also the option to perform it locally, so we are doing our best in Northern Ireland to address the issue. Even so, advocacy groups such as Sling the Mesh Northern Ireland have expressed concerns over the conflict of interest in requiring the original implanting surgeon to sign off on referrals for outside treatment. All those factors must be taken into consideration, which was the very point my hon. Friend made.

Between 1998 and 2018, some 11,000 vaginal mesh implants were performed in Northern Ireland. Other Department of Health figures indicate that nearly 7,000 procedures occurred between 2005 and 2015 alone. With conservative estimates suggesting that between 5% and 10% of those patients experienced significant problems, the scale of the issue is clear.

For children affected, while the UK-wide estimate is roughly 20,000, specific Northern Ireland figures often have to be extrapolated. Reports for the Republic of Ireland, for instance, estimate that there are some 1,250 children affected there; those significant numbers down south are separate from Northern Ireland figures, but based on similar prescribing patterns. As of 2023, the Patient Safety Commissioner noted that even now, across the UK, an average of three babies a month are born having been exposed to the drug.

I will not take an extra minute for the intervention, Dr Allin-Khan, because I recognise that others need time to speak.

All those people, including the 600 members of Sling the Mesh NI, are awaiting action. On this, the second anniversary of the report, the stagnation of action is not acceptable. I take this opportunity to speak on their behalf, as well as on behalf of my and my hon. Friend’s constituents in Northern Ireland: I ask that we stop waiting and start moving on the compensation, providing help for those who are suffering this very minute, even as this debate takes place.

My request for the Minister is that we hurry the process, so that we in Northern Ireland can fall in behind what happens here in Westminster. Let us not see a third anniversary without fulfilment of the recommendations and of our word in this place.

Brain Tumour Survival Rates

Jim Shannon Excerpts

Monday 9th February 2026 Commons Chamber

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

May I say what a pleasure it is to follow the hon. Member for Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket (Peter Prinsley), and thank him for his knowledge of the subject matter, and the way that he portrays it with such empathy and understanding? I also thank the hon. Member for Mitcham and Morden (Dame Siobhain McDonagh) who set the scene incredibly well, as she always does. She has that deep personal belief, with her sister—a journey that we have often heard about in this House, and we sympathise with her. I thank the hon. Member for Witney (Charlie Maynard) for his contribution, including for speaking about his sister. Finally, I thank the Backbench Business Committee for selecting this topic.

It is always a pleasure to see the Minister in his place. I wish him well, and we look forward to his response to the debate. In the short time that we have known him, he has shown an aptitude in responding to those of us who ask questions, which we appreciate. I look forward to how he can encourage us all at the end of the debate.

I would like to give a Northern Ireland perspective. I always try to do that, as it adds to the flavour of the debate, and gives an opinion from Northern Ireland where health is devolved but where the issues are the same; they do not stop at the Irish sea, at Hadrian’s wall or at Cardiff—they are everywhere in this great United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

In Northern Ireland, 2,043 cases of malignant and non-invasive brain tumours were diagnosed between 2017 and 2021, averaging some 409 cases per year. At the end of 2021 there were 5,465 people living with a brain tumour, with diagnosis occurring between 1997 and 2021. That gives us an idea of the perspective and magnitude of brain cancer. During that period, some 53.2% of brain tumour cases were among women, which has been illustrated by the examples shared by those with personal knowledge of this issue. As we know, cancer is no respecter of colour, creed or class, and the increase in incidence means that so many more families are grieving or worried, and so much more must be done not only to support families who are going through cancer, but to carry out research and find a cure. Last week, I attended an event in the House on cancer, and I was encouraged when the lady I spoke to told me that 60% of people diagnosed now survive cancer. That is a wonderful figure, but unfortunately the numbers are not as good in relation to brain cancer.

Brain tumours are the biggest cancer killer of children and adults under 40. In the UK, some 16,000 people are diagnosed each year with a brain tumour and the incidence of brain tumours is significantly higher in Northern Ireland. Some of the figures in Northern Ireland and Wales are incredibly worrying, compared with England and Scotland. Brain tumour cases in Northern Ireland are projected to increase by some 36% by 2035, with glioblastoma being the most common and malignant adult brain tumour, accounting for some 70% of all new diagnoses. Given that projected increase by 2035, which is not too far away, what discussions will the Minister have with the relevant Minister, Mike Nesbitt, in Northern Ireland to ensure that we can combat this terrible disease together? That is the outcome that I seek from this debate.

GBM has the worst outcome for patients, as those tumours are resistant to therapy. Despite such treatments as surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy, unfortunately GBM tumours regrow, leading to patient relapse and death after 15 months, which is incredibly worrying. Although the picture is dark, with sadness there is always hope. Brain tumour survival rates in Northern Ireland show that for malignant cases there was a one-year survival rate of 49.9% between 2017 and 2021—a significant increase from 37.4% between 1997 and 2001, which is really good news. Non-invasive tumour survival is high, with 88.3% of people surviving for five years.

There is much work being done in Northern Ireland to combat the darkness and bring light, such as through rapid diagnosis. This major project, launched in late 2025, uses rapid nanopore sequencing to reduce brain tumour diagnosis times from weeks to just hours. The technology reads tumour DNA almost immediately, helping clinicians to choose treatments faster. It is one of the incredible advances that have been made in cancer diagnosis; we are responding better than we have in the past.

While not a cure in itself, this research is giving people more time and a choice. Researchers have also identified existing FDA-approved drugs that could potentially be repurposed to treat brain tumours, specifically targeting how genes change as cancer progresses. All these steps bring forward something that every cancer sufferer and their loved ones need: hope.

May I plug, as I always do, Queen’s University, Belfast, and its wonderful work at the forefront of cancer diagnosis and cures? It gives me great pleasure to mention Queen’s University, because it shows that Northern Ireland is actively engaged in trying to find the cure. It has developed partnerships with big business, has students from all over the world and is always trying to find the cure. The adverts on television and elsewhere always encourage people to donate to cancer research so that the ultimate cure can be found. It will be a great day when that ultimate cure is found, and Queen’s University is leading the way.

Funding for cancer research based at Queen’s University is bringing a dividend. We can and must allow the university to do more research and development to find the ultimate cure—the cure for cancer. More funding means more work, which means more breakthroughs and more hope, and I think we can all agree that this House and this great nation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland will certainly do better with the light of more hope.

Medical Training (Prioritisation) Bill

Jim Shannon Excerpts

2nd reading
Tuesday 27th January 2026 Commons Chamber

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

As others will know, I have raised this matter a number of times in the Chamber. In Wales, for example, the health service pays students’ fees and trains them, and students then have an obligation to stay with the Welsh health service for a period of time. One of my constituents, whom I know well, did just that. She went there, received training and stayed there. What happened, of course, is that she met someone in Wales who she fell in love with, and now she wants to stay there, so we will lose her in Northern Ireland. The point I want to make is this: if paying the fees retains the staff in Wales, should we not also do that in Northern Ireland, Scotland and England? We could do so in this Bill.

[Lewis Atkinson]

There is some merit in the hon. Gentleman’s proposal, not just for medical training but across the clinical workforce. As Members have acknowledged, we pay significant sums of public money training clinical staff, but the graduates incur significant student debt. If a UK-trained undergraduate student decides to work abroad, the UK taxpayer will have invested a significant amount in their training, and that is then lost. It strikes me that there is an opportunity for the Government to think about the sort of incentive that the hon. Gentleman describes as part of wider workforce planning.

That is pertinent to my next point about the importance of the medical workforce reflecting our wider society, particularly the working class communities of the north-east of England. I want to ensure that a young person doing well at a state school in Sunderland has as much encouragement and access as anyone else in the country to study medicine and, crucially, progress through the ranks to the highest grades. We have heard some talk of international medical schools, but I can absolutely assure Members that there are not state school-educated kids in Sunderland thinking that they will pay privately to study in Grenada or anywhere else.

As the Secretary of State rightly pointed out, there have been welcome improvements on diversity in the NHS, but we often fail to consider socioeconomic background in that. The first line of the NHS constitution states:

“The NHS belongs to the people.”

But sometimes it can feel like it is staffed by a pretty unrepresentative slice of the people, particularly in medical roles.

In that spirit, I recognise the excellent work of the University of Sunderland medical school, which has placed widening access at the heart of its mission. Building on a 100-year history of wider clinical training, the school opened in 2019, shortly before the covid-19 pandemic—a period that starkly exposed our over-reliance on overseas recruitment and underlined the importance of growing our own workforce. By 2022, 47% of the University of Sunderland’s intake were local students, and it now ranks sixth in the UK for student satisfaction.

However, it is no good universities like Sunderland in my constituency doing excellent work on widening participation at recruitment stage if when we get to foundation training and specialty training those students are disadvantaged in competition. In my view, the Bill will help to ensure that talent nurtured by institutions like the University of Sunderland is retained and prioritised for the benefit of our NHS.

I highlight that medical schools such as Sunderland are increasingly placing a huge emphasis on training their medical students in a multidisciplinary environment alongside the trainee nurses and trainee pharmacists of the day, so that they are prepared to work in the multidisciplinary environment that our NHS rightly demands. I am not sure that all international undergraduate courses are always so advanced, so it is right to prioritise this UK-based training approach for the multidisciplinary ethos of the NHS in the future.

Other Members have mentioned the wide variation in specialist training fill rates, and GP recruitment has been mentioned as part of that. It is also worth saying that the national statistics about specialty training mask significant regional variations. The GP specialty training fill rate has been as low as 62% in the north-east of England, and as we have heard, over 73% of applicants for GP specialty training in 2023 were international. That has a disproportionate effect in regions like mine. My constituents want to have the confidence that there will be a stable GP workforce as part of our community for the long term. I cannot tell them in all candour that the status quo delivers that, so we must make changes of the type that the Bill sets out.

I hope that by introducing effective, regulated training pathways, the Bill will improve retention and strengthen workforce planning in our communities, including in areas such as women’s health, where training provision has not kept pace with rising demand. When I look at the shape of the NHS elective waiting list, it is no coincidence that some of the trickiest waiting time problems are in specialties such as gynae, where we have had recruitment and training challenges in recent years.

To close my remarks, I re-emphasise the link between capacity and demand, which I hope the Minister will touch on in advance of the workforce plan. Will she also say a little about the medical training review and the phase 1 report for NHS England and how the Government will work with that?

Dementia Support: Hampshire

Jim Shannon Excerpts

Wednesday 21st January 2026 Westminster Hall

[Liz Jarvis (Eastleigh) (LD)]

I beg to move,

That this House has considered dementia support in Hampshire.

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Lewell. We all know someone who has been impacted by dementia. My much-loved mum died in 2024 after a seven-year struggle with Alzheimer’s, so I know first hand what it is like to have to fight for the care and support that dementia sufferers need.

One in three people born today will develop dementia in their lifetime. Across Hampshire, more than 22,000 people are currently living with dementia. If national trends continue, that number is expected to rise to more than 31,000 by 2040. Dementia already places high pressure on families, the NHS and social care, and without decisive action that will only intensify. It is vital that we get the system right.

According to Dementia UK, 1,323 are living with dementia in Eastleigh, which is approximately 1.41% of the local population—higher than the national average.

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

This is a massive issue for each and every one of us. The hon. Lady has referred to figures in her constituency, but given Northern Ireland’s ageing population, the figures there are expected to almost double, rising from 22,000 to 43,000 by 2040. That poses major challenges for health and social care. Does she agree that to be forewarned is to be forearmed, and that the Government must make preparations to deal with the growing numbers by implementing changes to the system right now?

[Liz Jarvis]

I absolutely agree with the hon. Member.

The average wait time for a dementia diagnosis in Eastleigh is 91.7 days, and post-diagnostic support is inconsistent and often inadequate. We must get to a position where dementia care is built around a clear, joined-up pathway that families can rely on from the very start and where a person can receive early diagnosis followed immediately by assessments, access to specialist advice, dementia-trained professionals and consistent points of contact, such as Admiral nurses. Drug treatments, where appropriate, home-based support, respite care and, where needed, smooth transitions into care homes, would all be part of one coherent system, not a maze of disconnected services. We need more support to stay at home and more support in the community, and family carers should be informed about available support and given greater access to regular respite. Diagnosis must be the gateway to timely, specialist and sustained support; too often it is not.

Domestic Abuse-related Deaths: NHS Prevention

Jim Shannon Excerpts

Tuesday 20th January 2026 Westminster Hall

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

It is always a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Sir John. I thank the hon. Member for Stroud (Dr Opher) for securing this debate, setting the scene incredibly well and giving us all an opportunity to participate.

As always, I want to give a Northern Ireland perspective of what is happening. Unfortunately, the things happening in Northern Ireland are replicated, as shown in what other Members have said and what others will say after me. In some ways, things in Northern Ireland are even worse—the numbers of women being killed are at such a high level in proportion to the rest of the United Kingdom, and outpace what is happening elsewhere.

The Minister, who I am always pleased to see in her place, has a special interest in Northern Ireland, and because of that she will be aware of the stats, which are incredibly worrying. In Northern Ireland, the Police Service recorded almost 30,000 domestic abuse incidents in the 2024 to 2025 period, translating to roughly 85 incidents daily. Almost 18,500 of those became crimes, although many incidents do go unreported. Call volumes, particularly around Christmas, highlight a consistent challenge for victims seeking help. There are about 15 incidents and 10 crimes per 1,000 people, which puts the stats into perspective. Although that is a decrease on the previous year, those numbers are still incredibly jarring.

One of the worst times of the year, as we all know as elected representatives, is Christmas and the new year. There is a strain on relationships, whether it is a combination of financial and emotional pressures, or everything just building up at that time of year. The Police Service of Northern Ireland received 1,407 calls in the period from 20 December 2025 to 2 January 2026, seeing a peak of 116 reports on new year’s day. There is pressure on the PSNI back home, and on the police here, to respond to quite difficult issues. I know the Minister always tries to be responsive to our requests, so has she had the opportunity to speak to the relevant police in Northern Ireland, to get an idea of what they are doing and how we can help each other?

In June, we had the absolutely heartbreaking murder of a young mother of two, who was pregnant with her third child; the ripples are still felt in our community. Young Sarah Montgomery’s murder simply should not have happened, and more has to be done in those cases. Sarah was the 27th women to be murdered in Northern Ireland since 2020, and the level of domestic abuse calls indicate that this remains a central problem.

In Northern Ireland, health and social care is a very important partner in the domestic and sexual abuse strategy for 2024 to 2031, which designates domestic abuse as “everyone’s business”—and it is everyone’s business. Health settings are often the only safe and trusted environment where a victim can disclose abuse, as the hon. Member for Stroud mentioned. When a victim goes into a health setting, people run to support to them, and there is nobody looking over their shoulder or listening to what is going on, and they may have an opportunity to disclose what has happened. It is really important to have that strategy in place, and we have it in Northern Ireland.

I will underline the particularly worrying trends from the Christmas and new year period. At that time of year, accident and emergency units are under incredible pressure. Back home, we have had problems with hospital wait times and ambulances queued outside hospitals, and the domestic abuse issue is clearly in the middle of that.

Roughly 30% of domestic abuse starts during pregnancy, so midwives and health visitors are trained to conduct routine inquiry and ask about safety at home. They do that, and it has enabled the issue to be raised incredibly. To catch abuse early, we need to empower those workers to report any concerns and ensure that support is offered. It is essential that NHS departments work together, but the pressure on workers to fulfil their calls and do their paperwork is immense. So I believe that time must be factored in for staff to be able to smoothly report any suspicions. We must know that, in these awful cases, the Government and their Departments have done all that they could.

I want to be clear: murder by domestic abuse can never be the fault of anyone other than the perpetrator. However, in our communities we must all ask ourselves, “Was there something more that we could have done?” I support a UK-wide review by the Minister to ascertain how we can know that we have done all we can, to our utmost and even a bit more.

ADHD Diagnosis

Jim Shannon Excerpts

Tuesday 20th January 2026 Westminster Hall

[Bill Esterson]

It is good news that we are seeing some progress in my hon. Friend’s ICB. I profoundly hope that NHS staff in other ICBs around the country are watching this debate and will follow the lead of her ICB in improving the access that is needed.

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

I commend the hon. Member for securing the debate. He has outlined the waiting lists, which are no better for us in Northern Ireland—they are over a year, and up to six years. The issue about early diagnosis is that every child with ADHD has a different level of ADHD. The diagnosis is really important because it enables the education system to respond for that child specifically. Does the hon. Member agree that for an educational programme to be tailored to a child, it must be absolutely right, which can be done only if there is early diagnosis?

[Bill Esterson]

Yes, I agree with the hon. Member. It is important to realise that everybody is different and that we all need different support. That is very true in school. When we call for diagnosis, we need to take great care around what we mean. Diagnosis is a means of getting support, getting the right treatment and getting the right medication, if medication is right—it is not right for everybody. ADHD is a spectrum and that individual, tailored support in school, and indeed in adult life, is an important part of what we are discussing.

Advanced Brain Cancer: Tissue Freezing

Jim Shannon Excerpts

Wednesday 7th January 2026 Westminster Hall

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Western. I thank the hon. Member for Caerphilly (Chris Evans) for setting the scene so incredibly well, and the hon. Member for Mitcham and Morden (Dame Siobhain McDonagh) for all that she does—I was impressed by her contribution yesterday, and she equalled it today.

I think we all know someone who has been touched by cancer. The youngest daughter of a close friend of mine was diagnosed with glioblastoma last Christmas, and she died a few weeks later. At that time, the diagnosis was bleak, and the lives of my friend and his wife were changed forever. Bleak does not even come close to the sense of loss.

[Mr Campbell]

I have personal experience of a very young constituent who lost her father for the exact same reason. The trauma affects not just the immediate family, but close friends too, and it lives with them for years. Hopefully, we can see some progress both today and in the next few weeks, whenever the cancer issue is addressed in the main Chamber.

[Jim Shannon]

I thank my hon. Friend. That story makes today’s debate that bit more impactful for me and for us all. My friend is a veteran. He served in the forces with great courage. He has shoulders as broad as a rugby player. He is a man who could take on anything. He laid his life on the line for the freedom of everyone here. Yet, he could do nothing but watch—

[Dame Siobhain McDonagh]

The hon. Gentleman has been very kind to me in all these debates and has called me soft-hearted. If I am soft-hearted, that perhaps applies to both of us.

--- Later in debate ---

[Jim Shannon]

We are both soft-hearted, as many other Members in this Chamber probably are.

This man was so strong. When his wee daughter died, life became very focused on that; it will be always focused on that. I can understand how Owain’s law has come about, because families are determined to ensure that their devastation is not replicated, if one single thing can be done to prevent it. I thank those in the Public Gallery for being here.

What can we do? Owain’s law is an indication of what we can do. Tissue freezing preserves DNA. Without this key, simple and cost-effective step, patients cannot access the latest cancer treatments, diagnostics and research. There is a way forward.

As the Minister knows, I am always pleased to see her in her place. We are all very fond of her, and she understands things better than most—we all know the circumstances. I am looking forward to her response to the ask from the hon. Member for Caerphilly and from everyone else. To help end this preventable postcode lottery, hon. Members should please consider entering the current ballot for Health and Social Care questions, which closes today. If they can get their question in before noon today, that would be good. Next week, they would then have an opportunity to ask it on the Floor of the House, to help prevent more brain cancer patients in our constituencies from missing out.

In the NHS, most brain cancer patient samples are stored in paraffin wax rather than being flash frozen in medical freezers. When this happens, patients lose access to potentially lifesaving newer treatments developed using these samples, to more precise diagnostic methods and to advanced research, including future testing to find out whether a patient’s condition is genetic and likely to be passed on to their children. That is important in the lives we lead. Some conditions are hereditary; they come from our mum or dad—maybe our grandparents—down to us, and may pass on to those who come after us.

I thank Ellie’s campaign for giving me their paper before the debate, as it really does help us to understand things just that wee bit better. I know that the Minister has seen it and the three questions to her, so I do not need to repeat them—she is probably very aware of what they are. Those are the campaign’s requests.

I have a couple of requests of my own, which will not come as a surprise to anyone in the Chamber, and certainly not to the Minister. New research from the Tessa Jowell Brain Cancer Mission shows that access to tissue freezing varies dramatically between trusts, meaning that eligibility for advanced treatments can depend entirely on where a patient lives. A postcode lottery is preventing my constituents in Strangford in Northern Ireland from benefiting from more precise whole genome sequencing, personalised immunotherapy and cutting-edge diagnostic options. My constituents are not the only ones affected—everyone is affected.

I have received information indicating that, for just £250,000 to £400,000, every brain cancer patient in the UK could have routine access to tissue freezing by default, unlocking the treatments the Government have committed to delivering. The three questions from the Owain’s law campaign are the important ones, but can the Minister look at this issue? When we think about what we are trying to achieve in this debate, it is important that we have some goals. I know that the Minister always replies helpfully and positively to us.

In Northern Ireland, funding for freezing brain tissue is primarily tied to research initiatives rather than standard patient care. A local charity called Brainwaves NI is currently funding a pilot scheme at the Belfast health and social care trust and Queen’s University Belfast, which uses rapid nanopore sequencing. I do not pretend to understand what all these things are—I am not a medical person, just an MP who tries to represent his constituents when he can. That process requires specialised tissue handling, often involving freezing, to reduce diagnosis times from weeks to hours.

It is clear from all the contributions to the debate, including from those who have personal knowledge, that we do not need pilots but more equitable access to tissue freezing throughout the United Kingdom. I support the calls the hon. Member for Caerphilly has made so well on behalf of his constituents and indeed all the United Kingdom. Glioblastoma is a death sentence, but tissue freezing could change that. It is right and proper that we do all we can to see that change in all of the United Kingdom.

My last request is that the Minister liaise with the regional Administrations in Scotland and Wales, and particularly with the Administration in Northern Ireland and with the Assembly. Brain cancer affects us all; it does not stop at the border of Scotland and England or in the Irish sea. It is all of us together, so we need to work together to find a way of funding a cure for advanced brain cancer. With that, I look forward very much to the Minister’s response.

--- Later in debate ---

[Ashley Dalton]

I note my hon. Friend’s clarification, but with that in mind, we do know that it is important to diagnose all cancers as quickly as possible, and the diagnosis of brain cancers is equally important so as to start treatment as quickly as possible. To that end, the Chancellor announced further investment in diagnostics at the autumn statement as part of a £6 billion capital investment to deliver constitutional standards.

On genomics, I met the chief scientific officer for genomics yesterday to discuss how we ensure that the UK remains a world leader in genomics—which we are—and that we can apply genomics to improve cancer outcomes. We hope that our investment in diagnostics and pathology will mean that, in future, patients such as Owain will access a greater range of treatment options.

My hon. Friend the Member for Caerphilly and Ellie are entirely right to raise the importance of innovation, particularly for less survivable cancers such as brain cancer. The Government are proud to support the Rare Cancers Bill introduced by my hon. Friend the Member for Edinburgh South West (Dr Arthur). Next Friday, Baroness Elliott will move its Second Reading in the other place.

We will go even further to ensure that all patients with brain cancer have access to cutting edge clinical trials, innovation and lifesaving treatments. As part of our action, the National Institute for Health and Care Research announced the pioneering brain tumour research consortium to accelerate research into new brain tumour treatments across the UK. The NIHR is backing the consortium with an initial £13.7 million and more money to come this year. The world-leading consortium aims to transform outcomes for adults and children who are living with brain tumours and for their families, ultimately reducing the number of lives lost to cancer. As I confirmed yesterday, I will write to my hon. Friend the Member for Mitcham and Morden in detail regarding access to funding. I am happy to commit to seeking information and exploring how we can make access to funding much clearer and more transparent.

I am pleased to confirm that the national cancer plan for England will be published in just a few short weeks, in early February. It will focus on rarer cancers, including brain cancer, and will include further details on how we will improve outcomes and work with stakeholders such as the Tessa Jowell Brain Cancer Mission to do so. The plan will detail further action to speed up diagnosis and treatment in England, ensuring that patients have access to the latest treatments and technology and ultimately driving up survival rates.

[Jim Shannon]

I thank the Minister for her comprehensive reply to all our questions. In my contribution, I mentioned that Queen’s University Belfast and the Belfast health and social care trust are doing a pilot scheme, which I hope will benefit England, Scotland and Wales. Can the Minister ask her Department’s civil servants to take that on board?

[Ashley Dalton]

I am happy to confirm that I will ask officials to look into that, and to give me some advice on that pilot and on having a conversation with those running it about what we could learn from them. I thank the hon. Member for raising that question.

I will close by paying tribute to our late colleague and Member of the Senedd, Hefin David. Through tireless campaigning, he brought Owain’s story to the Senedd. My hon. Friend the Member for Caerphilly has now brought it to this place and I thank him for that. I look forward to working with him and other hon. Members to make 2026 the year that we shift the dial for patients with brain cancer.

Less Survivable Cancers

Jim Shannon Excerpts

Tuesday 6th January 2026 Westminster Hall

[Clive Jones (Wokingham) (LD) [R]]

I beg to move,

That this House has considered less survivable cancers.

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Efford. I declare an interest as a governor of the Royal Berkshire hospital; also, a family member has shares in a medical company. I am grateful to the Backbench Business Committee for allowing this debate, which I first asked for six months ago—[Interruption.]

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

Whose phone is that?

[Clive Jones]

I apologise.

--- Later in debate ---

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Efford. I thank the hon. Member for Wokingham (Clive Jones) for leading today’s debate. It is good to be here, because next week is Less Survivable Cancers Awareness Week, which starts 12 January. We often talk about cancer in general, but speaking as my party’s health spokesman, I believe it is important to shine a light on those that are less survivable, and what more we can do to support those whose world has been turned upside down by their impact. Those low-survival cancers are lung, pancreatic, liver, brain, oesophageal and stomach. These types tend to be diagnosed later and have a five-year survival rate that is often below 16%—so we need to really focus on this issue. That survival rate compares with 50% to 60% for all cancers. I am, as always, very pleased to see the Minister in her place. I know that she will reply with dedication and give us the responses that we seek.

To give a quick Northern Ireland perspective: 62% of people diagnosed with a less survivable cancer die within one year of diagnosis; 10,300 people are diagnosed with cancer each year in Northern Ireland, and there are around 4,600 deaths annually. Cancer survival in Northern Ireland lags behind that in many comparable countries, so for certain devolved regions, more must be done to ensure that access and intervention are at a parallel with what is seen in our counterparts across the United Kingdom.

As always, I put it to the Minister that we do this together and share our research and ideas, and look at how we can do better. Queen’s University Belfast does some fantastic work. Its Lung Shot project involves experts from Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland and has some £300,000 in funding to study oesophageal cancer, which is often described as a “forgotten” cancer. There are so many variations within the UK; these are found in differences in treatment timing and use across the United Kingdom. In Northern Ireland there is a longer average wait to start both chemotherapy and radiotherapy compared with other UK nations and countries abroad. Those patterns mean that patients in Northern Ireland, unlike those elsewhere in the UK, often start treatment later and receive key therapies less frequently than in higher-survival countries. We must invest in greater capacity for CT and MRI scanning and endoscopy to ensure detection. Nobody should be made to play a postcode lottery for their health.

To conclude, less survivable cancers do not have to mean less priority, urgency and hope. Behind every statistic is a person—a parent, partner, sibling or friend—whose life was cut short, not because their cancer was untreatable, but because it was found too late. If we are to do something, then we must ensure that there is the correct funding, research and incentives—not just for the mainland, but collectively for everyone throughout the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.