Prostate Cancer Screening

Tim Farron Excerpts

Monday 26th October 2026 Westminster Hall

[John Lamont]

My right hon. Friend makes an important point. My ask is that the Government continue their engagement, but also keep assessing the evidence and information coming forward, so that patients are given the best possible opportunity for survival.

The uncertainty around screening matters the most for black men, as one in four will develop prostate cancer and they are around twice as likely to die from it, but rather than being offered screening, they are being invited to take part in a trial. Transform has received up to a further £18 million to directly test several relevant questions, and to ensure that if stage 1 of the project is successful, all eligible black men aged between 45 and 74 will be invited to stage 2. Researchers told me that useful stage 1 evidence should be available before the long-term trial is complete, and will be fed back to the UK NSC.

As the MP for the Scottish Borders, I want to highlight Scotland’s experience. The Scottish Prostate Cancer Initiative, supported by Sir Chris Hoy, Sir Tom Hunter, Professor Sir Chris Evans and Kenny Logan, aims to offer free PSA tests to 25,000 men aged 40 to 80 during 2026. Sir Chris described the initiative as

“a major step forward for prostate cancer testing.”

In May, 313 men were tested in Hawick and 515 men were tested in Galashiels, meaning that across two days 828 men in my constituency were tested. The initiative is not an NHS screening programme, but its community-based model may offer useful lessons about access, uptake and reaching men who might otherwise be missed. That matters, because inequalities remain stark. Analysis from the NHS, National Services Scotland and Macmillan Cancer Support found that men in the most deprived areas had a 98% higher risk of death from prostate cancer than those in the least deprived areas.

I hope the Minister can address several points. First, will she commit to independent expert scrutiny of the UK NSC modelling, and to publish the findings and the Committee’s response in full? Secondly, as stage 1 of Transform produces significant new evidence, particularly on the screening of black men, will the Government ask the UK NSC to review its recommendation? Thirdly, how will the NHS proactively identify eligible BRCA2 carriers, particularly men whose genetic risk is not already known?

Fourthly, what lessons on improving access to testing can be drawn from community-based initiatives in Scotland? Fifthly, what discussions has the Minister had with the Scottish Government and the other devolved Governments to ensure that a man’s access to screening does not depend on which side of the border he lives on? Finally, what will the Government do to make sure that the many men who fall outside the programme know they can ask their GP for a PSA test and receive clear, balanced information when they do?

[Tim Farron (Westmorland and Lonsdale) (LD)]

I had the joy of spending time with the Kendal and South Lakes prostate cancer support group just a few weeks ago. Like the hon. Gentleman and me, its members are massively in favour of increased screening and making sure there is default screening for men over 50. Does the hon. Gentleman also think the Government need to be aware that if we test more people earlier and identify cancers earlier, more people can be treated? Does he believe the Government have done enough work, both north of the border and in the UK Parliament, to ensure that we have sufficient capacity for surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy so that we can treat the people who are diagnosed?

[John Lamont]

That is a key point, because not everybody who is diagnosed with prostate cancer will necessarily need further treatment. Some people will not die of prostate cancer but will die with prostate cancer. The challenge for the Government is getting the balance right between when it is appropriate to test and treat and when it is not.

I am conscious that many Members want to speak, so let me conclude. Screening is not simple. Finding more cancer is not automatically the same as saving more lives, but legitimate concerns about overdiagnosis should not prevent us from asking whether advances in diagnosis have changed where the balance now lies. More than 100,000 people have asked Parliament to consider targeted screening for men at higher risk. Since they signed the petition, targeted prostate cancer screening has entered policy for the first time. That is an important first step. The question now is how and when the boundary should move as the evidence develops.

The evidence I heard when preparing for this debate points both ways. Earlier detection could save lives, but questions remain over whether modern screening can reduce past harms. The Transform trial should help to provide the answers. When it reports, the Government must be ready to act quickly; that is what the petitioners asked for and what I hope the Minister will commit to. I look forward to hearing from her and from colleagues.

Oral Answers to Questions

Tim Farron Excerpts

Tuesday 20th October 2026 Commons Chamber

[Mr Frith]

I thank my hon. Friend and welcome her back from maternity leave—what a time that is. I know that she has been campaigning relentlessly on the issue of dental schools, but also on addressing the dental deserts that we speak about so frequently. The east of England and south-east dental schools are incoming and will start to take on new students in September 2027. I look forward to their playing a part in strengthening dental provision locally.

[Tim Farron (Westmorland and Lonsdale) (LD)]

9. What assessment she has made of the adequacy of the availability of radiotherapy satellite units.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (Mr James Frith)]

We want every cancer patient to benefit from high-quality radiotherapy regardless of where they live. There has always been a need to balance the objective of providing care closer to each person’s home with the imperative of maintaining access to the specialist expertise and technology needed for safe, effective treatment.

[Tim Farron]

In south Cumbria, only 29% of cancer patients get radiotherapy. That is the lowest proportion in the country, and only 27% of them get that treatment within the 62-day target. That is all because my constituents have to travel to the excellent but far-too-distant Rosemere cancer unit at Preston, which involves daily gruelling round trips of up to four hours for weeks on end, effectively excluding many from treatment. This awful, unequal access costs lives. Will the Minister set out a plan for delivering new satellite radiotherapy units in areas such as mine, and will he meet me and our local hospital’s trust to help us to deliver our long overdue radiotherapy satellite unit at Kendal?

[Mr Frith]

I am happy to meet the hon. Gentleman and his colleagues about this matter. A theme is developing of the demands on treatment in rural and coastal communities, where people are expected to travel further, particularly those facing radiotherapy. It is the responsibility of ICBs, supported by our national guidance, to strike the balance that I spoke of between population needs, geography and inequalities. I understand that there have been recent exchanges between him and his ICB. I am happy to have a conversation with him about that and to lean into what options are available hereafter.

--- Later in debate ---

[Yvette Cooper]

The national maternity and neonatal intensive support team has visited the trust to look at what more can be done. The trust has a particular issue with the recruitment of consultants, and measures that it had assured us would be put in place ended up not being effective, so it now has to take further action. It is important that it continues to do so. We will keep the hon. Gentleman up to date with all the measures that we are taking nationally, but I know he is also in close contact with the local trust. Hopefully, the continued local, regional and national pressure will ensure that those services can open as swiftly as possible.

[Tim Farron (Westmorland and Lonsdale) (LD)]

T1. If she will make a statement on her departmental responsibilities.

[The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (Yvette Cooper)]

The covid-19 inquiry has today published its module 6 report on what Baroness Hallett calls the “devastating impact” of the pandemic

“on people receiving and providing care and their loved ones.”

My thoughts are with all those who lost loved ones in the pandemic, especially those who endured the immense distress and harm of visiting restrictions in care homes, which meant they could not be with loved ones even as they died. I also pay tribute to all those who worked to protect the most vulnerable in very difficult circumstances, from care workers to family members.

The report finds that the adult social care sector was in a “fragile state” and insufficiently prepared for a pandemic, and that social care was too often treated as “an afterthought” in comparison with the priority placed on protecting the NHS. We will provide a full response to the report’s recommendations in due course, but I agree with the chair when she said that

“for too long the adult social care sector has been undervalued and under-recognised”.

That has to end and I hope we can work across parties to support the Prime Minister’s vision for a national care service.

[Tim Farron]

The only way that children can be tested for metachromatic leukodystrophy and given lifesaving treatment is if their older sibling is diagnosed, at which point it is too late to save the older sibling’s life. That was the case for my constituent Nicola, whose daughter was diagnosed when she was already symptomatic. She died at the age of 13. Nicola’s younger son was able to be diagnosed and treated only because of his late sister’s illness. This cruel tragedy could have been avoided if the Government added MLD to the infant heel prick test. When will the Secretary of State do that? Will she meet MLD families and me so that she can hear from them at first hand about the desperate need for this change?

[Yvette Cooper]

I am very sorry for everything that Nicola and her family have been through. The hon. Member will know that the UK National Screening Committee guides the Government in screening decisions. It has looked at newborn screening and concluded that there is not yet enough evidence to include MLD in the test. However, it is awaiting evidence from pilot studies looking into screening for MLD and from the recently implemented Norwegian screening programme. I will look further at this issue and ensure that the hon. Member gets a meeting with Ministers to talk about MLD.

Underperforming NHS Trusts: Government Oversight

Tim Farron Excerpts

Wednesday 14th October 2026 Westminster Hall

[Tim Farron (Westmorland and Lonsdale) (LD)]

It is an honour to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Stuart, and to follow the hon. Member for Salford (Rebecca Long Bailey) and my hon. Friend the Member for Chelmsford (Marie Goldman).

I have four NHS trusts serving my enormous constituency, which is the second biggest in England: the North Cumbria foundation trust, which is ranked 117th out of 134; the Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear foundation mental health trust, which ranks 39th out of 58; the University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay foundation trust, which ranks 97th out of 134; and the Lancashire and South Cumbria foundation mental health trust, which ranks 54th out of 58.

What do those four trusts have in common? They are run and staffed by outstanding people who are wonderful, compassionate, committed and capable. They all also struggle with a common underlying challenge: rurality, which this Government, like their Conservative predecessors, fail to understand and, indeed, to tackle.

Let me start with the Morecambe Bay trust. It has three hospitals, but it is funded as if it had just one. This year, NHS England and the Department of Health and Social Care are forcing £32.5 million-worth of cost savings on the trust, causing it to have to close 42 beds, despite the fact that it has been at level 4 of the operational pressures escalation levels framework—the highest level of alert and extreme pressure on services—a total of 14 times over the last 12 months, including three times in June, July and August.

We have some of the worst cancer waiting times in the country, and it is no surprise, because in south Cumbria we have no direct or close access to radiotherapy treatment. The OECD average, and the target, for the proportion of people with cancer who receive radiotherapy is 53%. In the UK, that figure is a mere 36%, and Lancashire and south Cumbria is the worst area in the worst country in the OECD, at only 29%. In north Cumbria, people use the Penrith urgent treatment centre, which is brilliant, but it is often under enormous pressure because the nearby Keswick urgent treatment centre—in the constituency of the hon. Member for Penrith and Solway (Markus Campbell-Savours)—is often closed because of understaffing.

Mental health provision in the two mental health trusts is under enormous pressure. When Cumbria has a suicide rate twice the national average, that is unacceptable. In addition, the local council is proposing to close Applethwaite Green care home in Windermere because of a 31% cut that the Government have made to the council’s funding this year. Why have the Government done that? Because they do not get rurality and they do not fund services in rural communities.

I want to finish by mentioning a Policy Exchange report, the foreword of which was written by my hon. Friend the Member for Oxford West and Abingdon (Layla Moran) and the title of which reads: “The Rural Penalty: How NHS funding formulas are disadvantaging rural and coastal areas and putting health devolution at risk”. It is not just putting health devolution at risk; it is putting the health and the lives of my constituents at risk, and I hope the Minister will put that right.

Health Bill

Tim Farron Excerpts

Report stage & 3rd reading
Tuesday 8th September 2026 Commons Chamber

[Grahame Morris]

This is a huge issue that should concern everyone. I believe there is cross-party consensus on the issue of health inequalities and huge variation in access depending on which part of the country people live in. That is an absolutely valid point.

We know the international consensus is that around half of all cancer patients have an evidence-based indication for radiotherapy at some point in their treatment. We should be aware that here in the United Kingdom in 2021, the last date for which figures were available, only 35% of cancer patients received it as part of their primary treatment.

[Tim Farron (Westmorland and Lonsdale) (LD)]

I am extremely grateful to the hon. Gentleman for the excellent points he is making. Let me add that in Lancashire and south Cumbria, only 29% of cancer patients get access to radiotherapy. He will be aware the Government’s target is that 85% of people diagnosed with cancer should be treated within 62 days, but only 41% of patients who are recommended radiotherapy get treated in those 62 days. He will also know that for every four weeks of delay in cancer treatment, there is a 10% lower chance of survival. Should the Government not accept new clause 114 to make it mandatory for people to be treated within two months so that they get the best chance of survival?

[Grahame Morris]

The hon. Gentleman hits the nail on the head—that is perfectly put. I believe there is cross-party consensus that this is the way forward. Over the last 16 years that I have been a Member, along with the hon. Gentleman, I have presented the case to a whole succession of Ministers from various parties, all of whom seemed to be in agreement. We definitely have an opportunity to restore what was once a world-class cancer service and get us back to where the international benchmarks say that we should be.

As I am sure Members are aware, responsibility for commissioning radiotherapies was devolved to the integrated care boards. I can understand the logic of moving commissioning closer to local populations. The hon. Member for Westmorland and Lonsdale, who tabled the new clause, and I do not seek to undo that. However, we wish to stress to the House that radiotherapy is not an ordinary local service, and it should not be considered as one. It is delivered from a very limited number of highly specialised centres dependent on capital equipment with long replacement cycles. It relies on a small, highly skilled workforce of about 6,000 people, all of whom take years to train, all the while relying on physical infrastructure that cannot be commissioned at short notice.

Patients routinely cross integrated care board boundaries to reach these specialist centres. Many boards, entirely understandably, do not have dedicated radiotherapy expertise in house. In August 2023, 70% of integrated care boards had no named person responsible for ensuring sufficient radiotherapy treatment capacity at all. I am willing to work with Ministers to seek a resolution with the solutions that we propose.

Oral Answers to Questions

Tim Farron Excerpts

Tuesday 9th June 2026 Commons Chamber

[Preet Kaur Gill]

I warmly welcome my hon. Friend’s report and thank her for all her work on behalf of her constituents. Locally, NHS and council partners are supporting delivery through services such as Thrive, Think Ahead and talking therapies, alongside community initiatives such as Male Health Survivors @ The Dale, and Andy’s Man Club Rochdale, supporting men’s mental health. We also have a mental health call for evidence, which is live until 12 July, seeking practical examples to tangibly improve outcomes and inform our mental health strategy. I would be keen to work with my hon. Friend on what more we can do.

[Tim Farron (Westmorland and Lonsdale) (LD)]

The suicide rate among men in Cumbria is twice the national average. There are a whole range of reasons why that is so, but one of them is clearly bound up in isolation and rurality. Would the Minister be willing to meet me and the Farmer Network as we seek to deliver mental health answers for people struggling? Some 25% of farmers are below the poverty line, often isolated and dealing with transition at times of enormous stress and anxiety with nowhere to turn. Would the Minister agree to meet so that we can address this particular cause of the appalling tragedy in our county?

[Preet Kaur Gill]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for raising that important issue. We of course must not overlook the needs of farmers. Our men’s health strategy has invested an extra £3.6 million in suicide prevention work in the most deprived parts of England, where men face the greatest risk of suicide. We are partnering with the Premier League’s Together Against Suicide initiative, to meet men where they are on their terms, so that they do not suffer in silence. I look forward to meeting the hon. Gentleman to hear more about the issue.

Health Bill

Tim Farron Excerpts

2nd reading
Monday 1st June 2026 Commons Chamber

[The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (James Murray)]

I beg to move, That the Bill be now read a Second time.

Madam Deputy Speaker, if you were to ask anyone in Britain what they think about the NHS, I bet they would give you an answer without hesitation. No one would be lost for words, because everyone has an opinion. Regardless of whether they tell you a story about how the NHS has helped them or their family in their moment of need, or whether they share a view on how they would change it for the better, everyone cares about the NHS. The NHS matters deeply to people right across our country because of how deeply it touches all our lives.

For my part, the NHS came to my rescue when I was diagnosed 18 years ago with a serious and rare neurological condition that threatened my ability to run, to write and to talk. After the best care I could have hoped for from my brilliant consultant and his team at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery in Queen Square, and from other teams across the NHS, I am now symptom free. It is only thanks to the support of those people working in our health service, and to the faith of the Prime Minister in appointing me to this role, that I am able to stand here today as the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care and set out what this critical Bill will mean for the future of our NHS.

Like me, everyone across Britain will have their own story of the NHS, or a view to share about its future. It is an achievement that we all share together, and one that is personal for us all. My predecessor as Health Secretary, my right hon. Friend the Member for Ilford North (Wes Streeting), has spoken movingly about the importance of the NHS to him. He explained how it saved his life when he was diagnosed with kidney cancer at the age of 38 and how, amidst all his worries, the one thing he never had to worry about was how much the treatment might cost. Let me pay tribute to my right hon. Friend for what he did in the role as a great champion of patients everywhere, and as someone with a huge passion for building a modern NHS—something we can see in this Bill, which he and my hon. Friend the Member for Bristol South (Karin Smyth) put so much energy into.

As a former Chief Secretary to the Treasury and Exchequer Secretary, I have been incredibly proud to support my right hon. Friend the Chancellor in her determination to take the right decisions on the public finances to enable record investment in our national health service. Thanks to that investment, the changes that this Labour Government have begun to make, the leadership at the Department for Health and Social Care and NHS England, and the incredible work of frontline staff across the NHS, in just under two years we have seen: over half a million fewer people on the waiting list; 2,000 more GPs; 8,500 more mental health workers; four in five patients being seen within four hours in A&E; over 100 community diagnostic centres now open in evenings and at weekends; and over 240,000 more people getting their cancer tests on time. That is the difference that this Labour Government are making: an NHS in which more patients get the treatment they need when they need it, and in which taxpayers get better value for money.

[Tim Farron (Westmorland and Lonsdale) (LD)]

The Secretary of State mentions some achievements and the progress being made within the NHS. May I bring him back to the issue of cancer treatment? According to OECD figures, 53% of cancer patients should receive radiotherapy as their primary treatment. In the UK, the figure is only 35%. In Cumbria and Lancashire, it is only 29%. This is delaying treatment, delaying cures and preventing people from living long lives. Will he take a personal interest in correcting the commissioning so that every single part of this country has access to radiotherapy close to where people live, so that they can be cured with the most up-to-date technology?

[James Murray]

The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right to draw attention to the importance of having the right approach to cancer, and our national cancer plan sets out what we as a Government are doing to achieve that. He is also right to point to the regional variation in different parts of the country, and to say how important it is not just to raise standards across the country but to ensure that the increase in standards is evenly distributed, so that all areas improve. One of my roles as Secretary of State is to ensure that we not only deliver our national cancer plan but support local areas so that they have the right services.

GP Contract

Tim Farron Excerpts

Monday 16th March 2026 Commons Chamber

[Stephen Kinnock]

I thank the hon. Member for his kind words about the Government’s work. I do have an excellent relationship with the Minister in Northern Ireland. Devolution is vital to the Government, and we are certainly not in the business of trying to micromanage what is happening both across the regions of England and in the devolved nations of our United Kingdom, but it is clear that there should be learning in both directions. When I speak to the Northern Ireland Minister, we are clear that we want to see the best possible performance and outcomes right across our United Kingdom. I look forward to continuing to work with him on that basis.

[Tim Farron (Westmorland and Lonsdale) (LD)]

The beautiful and vibrant yet very isolated community of Coniston has had a GP practice for the last 200 years or so, but it runs the risk of losing it this year. Its GPs, who were wonderful, retired last summer and a caretaker service is being provided. Bids have been invited and there has been much interest, but no bid has been made. The reason is that the finances are really marginal at such a small surgery where people cannot go anywhere else. There is an answer, and I want to ask the Minister whether he might intervene and talk to the ICB to help us to get there. If the dispensing contract were to be let jointly with the GP contract, that would make it viable, and I know of GPs who would be interested if that were to happen. Will he talk to the ICB to ensure that that flexibility is applied so that we can save the surgery in Coniston for the next 200 years?

[Stephen Kinnock]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for that question. It would be deeply troubling if such an important service to the community were to be removed, so I would certainly be happy to speak to him. Perhaps he would like to write to me to provide more details. Looking to the medium to longer term, the review of the Carr-Hill formula could well end up benefiting communities such as the one he has mentioned, because remoteness and rurality will be an important factor in the Carr-Hill review, but I accept that that might be a bit too far off for what sounds like a more urgent issue. If he would like to write to me, I am sure we can look into that.

Oral Answers to Questions

Tim Farron Excerpts

Tuesday 24th February 2026 Commons Chamber

[Ashley Dalton]

I commend my hon. Friend’s continued advocacy for radiotherapy. I have met the hon. Member for Westmorland and Lonsdale (Tim Farron) and the other members of the all-party parliamentary group on radiotherapy to discuss how the Government will improve outcomes for cancer patients. While trusts retain responsibility for recruitment, we are continuing to increase our cancer workforce: between November 2024 and 2025, it grew by more than 4%. In the cancer plan, we have committed to ensuring that we have the staff where and when we need them, and we are rebalancing cancer training places targeted at trusts in rural and coastal areas—such as east Durham—to improve patient outcomes.

[Tim Farron (Westmorland and Lonsdale) (LD)]

I welcome what the Minister has just said, but we start a long way behind. In OECD countries, the average proportion of people with cancer with access to radiotherapy is 53%. In England the proportion is 36%, and in Lancashire and South Cumbria it is the worst in the country, at just 29%. There is no doubt in our communities in South Cumbria that that is because patients must take three-hour round trips every day to obtain treatment in Preston. Will the Minister support our new plans to bring a satellite radiotherapy unit to Kendal, so that people in our communities can experience shorter journeys and longer lives?

[Ashley Dalton]

The hon. Gentleman and I share part of that integrated care board area. In the cancer plan, we committed to ensuring that coastal and rural areas receive the services that they need. We are investing more in radiotherapy machines, and we are working with ICBs to ensure that they are providing the services that their communities need, and that we are supporting the recruitment of the cancer workforce who will be able to go into those rural areas.

Oral Answers to Questions

Tim Farron Excerpts

Tuesday 13th January 2026 Commons Chamber

[Ashley Dalton]

Through the medium-term planning framework, which we published in October 2025, we set out those expectations. We will continue to work with trusts to develop them to make sure that people with ADHD, or suspected ADHD, get the support they need. I am more than happy to meet the APPG to discuss these matters further.

[Tim Farron (Westmorland and Lonsdale) (LD)]

Roughly 50% of the young people on the books of child and adolescent mental health services in south Cumbria have ADHD or autism. The integrated care board provides no funding whatever to acknowledge that. That is a huge burden on those young people and their families. It stops them getting back into school and so on, but it is also a burden on all the other young people waiting for treatment for things like eating disorders. Will the Minister pay personal attention to this—obviously, it is her ICB as well—to make sure that children with autism and ADHD are properly supported through our CAMHS services?

[Ashley Dalton]

As it is the ICB shared by my constituency, I am equally concerned. This will be explored as part of the review and I am more than happy to ask the Minister responsible to contact the hon. Gentleman further on how we can take that forward.

NHS: Winter Preparedness

Tim Farron Excerpts

Monday 15th December 2025 Commons Chamber

[Wes Streeting]

That is very good advice on vaccination. If people require health services and it not an accident or an emergency, they should call 111, visit the website or use the NHS app. There are plenty of services available to help people, but as people will have seen on their television screens and social media feeds, the current pressures mean that the emergency department is not a place to be, unless they have had an accident or it is a genuine emergency.

[Tim Farron (Westmorland and Lonsdale) (LD)]

Across Cumbria and Morecambe Bay, the teams working in A&E, on hospital wards and in our ambulance crews are doing a stunning job dealing with the winter pressures in a community where, in my constituency, the average age is 10 years above the national average. Their jobs are made more difficult by the fact that 25% or more of the beds in our local hospitals are occupied by people who do not meet the criteria to reside. On top of that, the local trust in Morecambe Bay is planning to make bed cuts for financial reasons alone. We hear about additional investment in the NHS, but it does not feel like we are having that in Morecambe Bay and Cumbria. Will the Secretary of State personally investigate that, so that we are not cutting beds at a time when we need them more than ever?

[Wes Streeting]

We do flex beds depending on needs. For example, there were just over 101,000 beds open on average per day in the past week, which was up on the previous week and broadly the same as it was this time last year. We are investing in the NHS, and we have to ensure that people get the right care, in the right place at the right time. That means not just investing in secondary care; if anything, it means investing in the front and back doors of the hospital—primary care, community services and social care—to deal with the flow of patients through hospitals.

I do not pretend that these are easy issues or that everything is going swimmingly in the NHS—quite the opposite. I have seen conditions on our screens in the past week or two that I would not want to be treated in, someone I love to be treated in, or anyone to be treated in. It is a reflection of that fact that we inherited an NHS that was in enormous crisis. It will take time to recover. The key for me is achieving year-on-year improvements to get the NHS back on its feet and to ensure it is fit for the future.