Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to set out national quality standards for rehabilitation for all people with cancer within cancer manuals, alongside those for prehabilitation announced in the National Cancer Plan.

Answered by Ashley Dalton

The National Cancer Plan will redesign cancer services around people’s lives, not just around hospitals, recognising that more people are living for longer with and beyond cancer and need ongoing, coordinated support. To achieve this aim, the plan committed to the development of new standards for both prehabilitation and rehabilitation through cancer manuals by 2028.

Through the National Cancer Plan’s implementation, more cancer care and support will be delivered closer to home, including a universal digital-first prehabilitation offer, expanded supportive oncology, greater use of virtual monitoring, and growing opportunities for treatment and follow-up in community settings where safe and appropriate.

For patients who have more extensive needs and who will require more support to live well, the National Health Service will deliver an enhanced level of care during and after treatment, known as supportive oncology. This will include enhanced rehabilitation, psychological support, and preventative interventions, such as physical activity and smoking cessation. Additionally, it will include acute oncology, support for severe and sometimes sudden symptoms, that means people can get rapid access to the right care in their home or community where appropriate.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has to ensure equitable cancer research funding across the country.

Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Department invests £1.6 billion each year on research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). Cancer is a major area of NIHR spending at £141.6 million in 2024/25, reflecting its high priority.

NIHR research infrastructure has national coverage for the whole of England. Our infrastructure schemes aim to build research capacity and capability across all geographies, settings, and disease areas, including understanding disease biology, patient access to novel treatments, and dedicated spaces for medicine studies.

In addition, through the NIHR Research Delivery Network (RDN), the NIHR supports 100% of National Health Service trusts in England to deliver research, operating across 12 regions throughout the country. The RDN also provides health research delivery investment that better enables trial access across wider care settings, including primary care, community-based, and residential research delivery organisations. In 2024/25 the RDN supported over 1,200 cancer studies, including the recruitment of almost 100,000 patients to cancer studies.

The NIHR continues to encourage and welcome applications for research into any aspect of human health and care, including all cancer types.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to develop the universal, digital‑first prehabilitation offer for people with cancer in the National Cancer Plan into a fully structured, personalised, community‑based offer of both prehabilitation and rehabilitation for all people with cancer.

Answered by Ashley Dalton

The National Cancer Plan will redesign cancer services around people’s lives, not just around hospitals, recognising that more people are living for longer with and beyond cancer and need ongoing, coordinated support. To achieve this aim, the plan committed to the development of new standards for both prehabilitation and rehabilitation through cancer manuals by 2028.

Through the National Cancer Plan’s implementation, more cancer care and support will be delivered closer to home, including a universal digital-first prehabilitation offer, expanded supportive oncology, greater use of virtual monitoring, and growing opportunities for treatment and follow-up in community settings where safe and appropriate.

For patients who have more extensive needs and who will require more support to live well, the National Health Service will deliver an enhanced level of care during and after treatment, known as supportive oncology. This will include enhanced rehabilitation, psychological support, and preventative interventions, such as physical activity and smoking cessation. Additionally, it will include acute oncology, support for severe and sometimes sudden symptoms, that means people can get rapid access to the right care in their home or community where appropriate.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the funding for local authority stop smoking services announced in the National Cancer Plan is a one‑off allocation for 2026-27.

Answered by Ashley Dalton

To help people quit, the Government has invested an additional £70 million in both 2024/25 and 2025/26 to support local authority led Stop Smoking Services in England. We are already seeing the impact this has made, as the first year of additional funding, 2024/25, resulted in a 23% increase in the number of people supported to quit compared to the previous year, 2023/24.

From April, we are investing an additional £260 million over three years, from 2026/27 to 2028/29, in Stop Smoking Services within the Public Health Grant, meaning at least £150 million per year will be ringfenced for these services. This will give local authorities greater certainty on their funding for the next three years.

Found: Geoffrey Clifton-Brown Chair Public Accounts Committee House of Commons London SW1A 0AA Cc: Clive Betts

Found: . 148) Current membership Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown (Conservative; North Cotswolds) (Chair) Mr Clive Betts

Found: . 148) Current membership Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown (Conservative; North Cotswolds) (Chair) Mr Clive Betts

Found: Watch the meeting Members present: Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown (Chair); Mr Clive Betts; Anna Dixon; Sarah

Found: Watch the meeting Members present: Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown (Chair); Mr Clive Betts; Anna Dixon; Rupert

Found: . 148) Current membership Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown (Conservative; North Cotswolds) (Chair) Mr Clive Betts

Found: Watch the meeting Members present: Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown (Chair); Mr Clive Betts; Anna Dixon; Rachel

Found: Watch the meeting Members present: Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown (Chair); Mr Clive Betts; Anna Dixon; Rachel

Found: Watch the meeting Members present: Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown (Chair); Mr Clive Betts; Rachel Gilmour