Asked by: Bambos Charalambous (Labour - Southgate and Wood Green)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps the Department is taking to improve early identification and monitoring of precursor conditions for blood cancer, such as MGUS and smoldering myeloma.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
It is a priority for the Government to support the National Health Service to diagnose blood cancer and precursor conditions as quickly as possible and to treat them faster, to improve outcomes.
To improve diagnoses of blood cancers and precursor conditions, the NHS is implementing non-specific symptom (NSS) pathways for patients who present with symptoms such as weight loss and fatigue, which do not clearly align to a tumour type. Blood cancers are one of the most common cancer types diagnosed through these pathways. There are currently 115 NSS services operating in England, ensuring more patients benefit from quicker access to the right investigations.
The Government will get the NHS diagnosing blood cancers earlier and treating them faster, and will support the NHS to increase capacity to meet the demand for diagnostic services through investment, including for magnetic resonance imaging and computed tomography scanners.
The National Cancer Plan, which will be published in the new year, will include further details on how the NHS will improve outcomes for all cancer patients, including 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.
Asked by: Bambos Charalambous (Labour - Southgate and Wood Green)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to introduce a data-driven system to (a) identify and (b) address disparities in the early diagnosis of cancer.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department remains committed to making improvements across different cancer types and to reducing disparities in cancer survival. Early cancer diagnosis is also a specific priority within the National Health Service’s wider Core20Plus5 approach to reducing healthcare inequalities.
The National Disease Registration Service (NDRS) in NHS England is the cancer registry for England and collects data on the diagnosis and treatment of cancer patients. The data collected captures a patient’s complete journey from referral, diagnosis, treatment, outcomes, experience, and survival. The data collected is used to inform trends and monitor and detect changes in health and disease in the population, including disparities in diagnosis. NDRS’s strategic priorities focus on making data more timely and accessible, and better understanding health inequalities.
Furthermore, the National Cancer Plan, to be published in the new year, will include further details on how we will use data to improve outcomes for cancer patients in England, including by driving earlier diagnosis and reducing the gap in early diagnosis between those living in the richest and poorest areas.
Asked by: Bambos Charalambous (Labour - Southgate and Wood Green)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to support the Child Nutrition Fund to ensure safe and nutritious diets are accessible to more women and children.
Answered by Chris Elmore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
I refer the Hon Member to the answer provided on 18 November to Question 89032.
Asked by: Bambos Charalambous (Labour - Southgate and Wood Green)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how much she has (a) committed and (b) disbursed to the Child Nutrition Fund.
Answered by Chris Elmore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
I refer the Hon Member to the answer provided on 18 November to Question 89032.
Asked by: Bambos Charalambous (Labour - Southgate and Wood Green)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that the results-based target for improving nutrition for women and children is measurable and time-bound.
Answered by Chris Elmore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
I refer the Hon Member to the answer provided on 18 November to Question 89032.
Asked by: Bambos Charalambous (Labour - Southgate and Wood Green)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what plans she has to facilitate discussions between Post Office and the major banks on expanding in-person banking services at post offices.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government recognises the importance of access to cash and banking services for businesses and individuals, including those who may be in vulnerable groups or require assistance and is supportive of industry initiatives that improve access to these vital services.
The Post Office plays a key role in supporting access to banking services. Under the Banking Framework, a commercial agreement between the Post Office and 30 banking firms, personal and business customers can withdraw and deposit cash, check their balance, pay bills and cash cheques at 11,500 Post Office branches across the UK. The specific services provided under the Framework are subject to commercial negotiations between individual banks and the Post Office, and the Government has no role in deciding what these arrangements are.
The Government would welcome continued collaboration between Post Office and the banking sector, on a commercial basis and will look to host joint discussions with Post Office and the banking sector in the coming months.
Asked by: Bambos Charalambous (Labour - Southgate and Wood Green)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when she plans to launch a consultation on the new Local Authority Designated Officer handbook.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO) plays a vital role in safeguarding children by overseeing the management of allegations made against individuals who work with children in any capacity. To ensure this role is delivered consistently and effectively across all local authorities, the next revision of ‘Working together to safeguard children’ will include enhanced content on the role of the LADO. The department will continue to work with the sector on any further developments, including the development of a LADO Handbook.
Asked by: Bambos Charalambous (Labour - Southgate and Wood Green)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department plans to increase research funding into new (a) tools and (b) other technologies for the earlier diagnosis of (i) pancreatic, (ii) lung, (iii) liver, (iv) stomach, (v) brain, (vi) oesophageal cancers and (vii) other the less survivable cancers.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department invests over £1.6 billion each year on research through its research delivery arm, the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR).
An example of this is the NIHR investing £2.4 million into the miONCO-Dx trial, which seeks to develop a blood test designed to detect 12 different cancers, that could transform how cancer is diagnosed in the National Health Service.
The NIHR is also funding a new artificial intelligence (AI) powered radiology analysis service, designed to develop and evaluate the use of AI in medical imaging to improve the detection of cancers, including for lung and brain tumours. The use of this technology will help to speed up response times and provide more accurate diagnoses and better-targeted treatments, ultimately improving outcomes for patients.
The NIHR continues to welcome funding applications for research into any aspect of human health and care, including all cancers. These applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made on the basis of the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money, and scientific quality.
Asked by: Bambos Charalambous (Labour - Southgate and Wood Green)
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 access to innovative treatments for people with SOD1 motor neurone disease.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is the independent body responsible for developing authoritative, evidence-based recommendations for the Naitonal Health Service on whether new medicines represent a clinically and cost-effective use of resources. NICE aims, wherever possible, to issue guidance close to the time of licensing, and the NHS in England is legally required to fund medicines recommended by NICE, normally within three months of the publication of final guidance.
NICE has selected tofersen for treating amyotrophic lateral sclerosis caused by SOD1 gene mutations as a topic for guidance development through its Highly Specialised Technology (HST) programme. The HST programme appraises medicines for the treatment of very rare, and often very severe diseases, and evaluates whether they can be considered a clinically and cost-effective use of NHS resources. NICE is working with the company to confirm timelines for this evaluation.
Asked by: Bambos Charalambous (Labour - Southgate and Wood Green)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to page 10 of Young Lives vs Cancer’s report entitled The cost of waiting, published in March 2025, what assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of average time from diagnosis to first payment of disability benefits; what steps is she taking to reduce processing times for disability benefits' applications from young people with cancer; and what assessment she has made of the potential merits of reducing the three month period from diagnosis before young people with cancer can apply for disability benefits.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Entitlement to Disability Living Allowance for children (DLAc) under 16 and Personal Independence Payment (PIP) for young people from age 16 are assessed based on the additional care/daily living and mobility needs arising from a long-term disability or health condition, rather than a diagnosis of a condition or disability itself.
We are committed to ensuring children and young people can access financial support in a timely manner and have increased the number of staff to respond to the increase in claim volumes.
Individual needs and circumstances vary, so the 3-month qualifying period helps establish the resulting care/daily living and mobility needs are of a long-standing nature. It provides a division between short term disability and long-term disability. The qualifying period commences from the point that additional needs start, rather than when a condition is diagnosed. A diagnosis is not required before a young person or their carer can apply for benefit, therefore the department has no information on when a diagnosis is made.
Applications under the special rules for end of life, where life expectancy is 12 months or less, do not have to satisfy the three-month qualifying period. The claim is fast tracked, and the person is eligible for the higher-rate care/daily living component from the date of claim.