Cancer (Reporting and Strategy) Bill

Amanda Martin Excerpts

Friday 13th November 2026 Commons Chamber

[Damian Hinds (East Hampshire) (Con)]

I thank and commend the hon. Member for Wokingham (Clive Jones) for bringing the Bill to the Floor of the House and for his powerful personal testimony. We have already heard, and I think we will hear more, personal testimonies from colleagues across the House. It was a particular privilege to be here for the speech of the hon. Member for Doncaster East and the Isle of Axholme (Lee Pitcher).

About a month ago, the hon. Member for Wokingham and I were both at a breast cancer campaign event at which one of the themes was inequalities in breast cancer care, particularly among under-represented communities, secondary breast cancer patients and men. It was good to hear from him on that occasion. He draws on his experience to contribute effectively to raising awareness about breast cancer in men and—as he is doing today—all cancers and the issues around them.

There were a number of important initiatives under the last Government, including the use of community diagnostic centres; the introduction of the lung health screening programme, which subsequently expanded to become the national lung cancer screening programme; the major clinical trial, initiated with Prostate Cancer UK, on testing screening approaches for detecting prostate cancer; and the launch in February 2024 of the children and young people’s cancer taskforce. As the hon. Member for Erewash (Adam Thompson) says, few things can unite this House as strongly as the fight against cancer. When the national cancer plan was published in February 2026, the Opposition welcomed its aims to improve survival and outcomes.

[Amanda Martin (Portsmouth North) (Lab)]

The shadow Minister and I share a university hospital. Although the targets are woefully out, does he agree that it is not because of the staff? Will he join me in thanking ward matrons Gavin Foley and Rachael Hunter, who do a fantastic job supporting our cancer patients?

[Damian Hinds]

I am grateful to the hon. Lady for the opportunity to express thanks and appreciation, as she has done. She is right that we happen to share a hospital, and it provides fantastic care for so many of my constituents.

When the national cancer plan was published, the then shadow Secretary of State, my right hon. Friend the Member for Daventry (Stuart Andrew), raised questions about how its ambitions would be realised. He called for a

“fully funded long-term workforce plan”

alongside

“clear, funded milestones showing how and when patients will see improvements”.—[Official Report, 5 February 2026; Vol. 780, c. 455.]

The focus needs to be on that plan.

Yesterday, we saw the most recent performance statistics from the national health service. It was a difficult set of statistics overall, and cancer standards, by all three measures—the faster diagnosis standard, the 31-day treatment standard and the 62-day treatment standard—had deteriorated month on month. Cancer Research UK’s analysis shows a discrepancy in diagnosis time between those who are ultimately found to be clear of cancer and those who have cancer; it rightly calls for particular analysis of that point. Its analysis also shows that breast cancer referrals had the biggest drop in performance among those who went on to be diagnosed with cancer.

The hon. Member for Wokingham is absolutely right that Ministers need to focus on the entire pathway, from risk factors such as smoking and obesity to waiting times, children and young people’s cancer screening, investment in research and key metrics around earlier diagnosis. The key thing, as I know he agrees, is to get all those things done and to make real progress.

Time is short, Madam Deputy Speaker, and we need to hear from the Minister about how she can reassure the hon. Gentleman and the House on those points. I hope that she will also update us on the long-awaited health workforce plan, which underpins so many aspects of the NHS. I commend the hon. Gentleman for all he has done and is doing, and for bringing the matter before the House today.

--- Later in debate ---

[Alison McGovern]

I feel sure that the Minister responsible for this area of policy will arrange such meetings. I will make available to him a copy of this debate so he can read for himself how important it is. I would say in a supportive way to the hon. Gentleman that we now have a cancer strategy that will improve outcomes over the next 10 years. I hope colleagues will also recognise that we have been unflinchingly honest about the scale of the challenge we face. We will always do so. We cannot sugarcoat the current situation, even while we all want to offer our constituents some hope.

We have a 10-year national cancer plan to make England a world leader in cancer outcomes. It is very important that it succeeds. It is a plan that sets out more than 100 actions to improve cancer survival, increase earlier diagnosis, recover performance against waiting time standards, and improve the quality of life for people living with and beyond cancer. We published the plan in February this year and, starting on its first anniversary, we will publish an annual report that will measure our progress against each of these targets every year. It will be freely available online and accessible to all. At the end of three years, we will also publish a complete and honest account of what we have got right and where we need to go further.

When it comes to improving the plan, no options are off the table. I want to express my sincere thanks to our friend, my hon. Friend the Member for West Lancashire (Ashley Dalton). I am delighted that she has agreed to rejoin us as an adviser on the national cancer plan’s implementation. She knows how important it is that we get this right and she has already done some pretty inspirational work on the first draft of the plan. But I know she would be the first say that wherever the plan is falling short we should and we will improve it. It is not a question of creating new legislation or statutory requirements when we have a cancer plan; our priority should be to crack on with the job.

While we get on with that job, I welcome scrutiny from the hon. Member for Wokingham and from all other Members in this place as they rightly hold the Government to account. Accountability is already being built into the way we deliver the plan. For example, in September we followed through on a commitment to establish a new National Cancer Board, bringing together leaders from across the cancer community, to set strategic direction, give independent challenge and make sure we are keeping up momentum towards our goals.

A few weeks ago, the hon. Member for Wokingham asked the Prime Minister to look at this proposal, and his suggestion was shared with the National Cancer Board. I can update the House that the board has now provided its views to Ministers, and those views have helped shape the Government’s position today.

As I have said, the board deliberately brings together people with different roles and different perspectives. We would not expect every member to agree on this issue. Some members have noted support for the Bill and its ambitions to put cancer strategy and reporting on a statutory footing, while others have concerns and worry that creating a parallel statutory framework could duplicate the national cancer plan, cause confusion for patients and the public and create additional reporting requirements without necessarily improving delivery.

Board members, however, share a clear expectation that reporting on the national cancer plan must provide a transparent account of progress, including where delivery is off track and, importantly, what action is being taken to get it back on track.

[Amanda Martin]

Will the Minister give way?

[Alison McGovern]

Very briefly.

[Amanda Martin]

I thank the Minister for taking the intervention. On that note, will she look at the issues with recruiting cancer specialists, particularly in coastal towns and cities such as Portsmouth?