Asked by: Derek Twigg (Labour - Widnes and Halewood)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many training places were allocated for GPs in each year since 2015.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England publishes the number of posts and fill rates for medical specialty training programmes, including general practice training. Data for 2013 to 2025 is available at the following link:
https://medical.hee.nhs.uk/medical-training-recruitment/medical-specialty-training/fill-rates
Asked by: Derek Twigg (Labour - Widnes and Halewood)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what is the requirement for consultant radiologists in the the NHS as of 1 June 2026 and what number were employed.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England publishes monthly information on the composition of the workforce employed by National Health Service trusts and integrated care boards in England. This includes information on the number of consultant radiologists. The information can be found at the following link:
https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/nhs-workforce-statistics
Information on the number of doctors by grade and specialty can be found for each month in the file ‘NHS HCHS Workforce Statistics, Trusts and core organisations – data table, [date]’ on worksheet ‘4’.
No specific central assessment has been made of the requirement for consultant radiologists in the NHS, with decisions on the provision of local services being managed by individual NHS service providers and commissioners.
Asked by: Derek Twigg (Labour - Widnes and Halewood)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many UK based Start-up businesses have contacted his Department in the past 12 months seeking to inquire on or bid for defence related work.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Ministry of Defence does not hold centrally recorded data on the number of UK-based start-up businesses that have contacted the Department in the last 12 months to enquire about, or bid for, defence-related work. A "start-up" is not a category routinely captured within the Department's supplier or engagement systems, and businesses engage with Defence through a wide range of channels, including correspondence, meetings, supplier engagement events, trade shows, webinars and online platforms. In addition, unsuccessful bidders are not recorded by company growth stage, and therefore the Department cannot provide a reliable figure.
The Ministry of Defence is committed to improving access for small and innovative businesses. In January 2026, the Defence Office for Small Business Growth was established to help reduce barriers to entry, simplify engagement with Defence, and support non-traditional suppliers and start-ups seeking to work with the Department.
Asked by: Derek Twigg (Labour - Widnes and Halewood)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many patients were diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer in each year since 2015.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson
The National Disease Registration Service (NDRS) collects data on cancer incidence across a range of tumour types and stages. Data showing the annual incidence rate of stage four lung cancer can be found at the following link:
https://nhsd-ndrs.shinyapps.io/incidence_and_mortality/
The following table shows the incidence rate of stage four lung cancer from 2015 to the most recently published data available, from 2023:
Year | Geography type | Stage | NDRS main | Incidence |
2015 | England | 4 | Lung | 18,563 |
2016 | England | 4 | Lung | 18,821 |
2017 | England | 4 | Lung | 18,315 |
2018 | England | 4 | Lung | 18,158 |
2019 | England | 4 | Lung | 16,998 |
2020 | England | 4 | Lung | 17,149 |
2021 | England | 4 | Lung | 17,136 |
2022 | England | 4 | Lung | 16,663 |
2023 | England | 4 | Lung | 15,942 |
Asked by: Derek Twigg (Labour - Widnes and Halewood)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether any money has been diverted away from Op Kindred's budget to other budgets in the MOD during the past 12 months.
Answered by Louise Sandher-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)
No funding has been diverted from the £3 billion a year that has been committed in support of Ukraine and encompasses Taskforce KINDRED.
Asked by: Derek Twigg (Labour - Widnes and Halewood)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what is the current wait time for cancer patients, from GP referral to being seen by a specialist in the Widnes and Halewood constituency.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson
The Department does not hold cancer waiting times data at a parliamentary constituency level. NHS England publishes cancer waiting times statistics by National Health Service provider and integrated care board, including performance against the faster diagnosis standard (FDS) which replaced the former two-week wait standard in October 2023, as the FDS measures whether patients referred urgently with suspected cancer have cancer diagnosed or ruled out within 28 days.
NHS England also continues to publish data on the time from an urgent suspected cancer referral to a first outpatient attendance and from an urgent breast symptomatic referral to a first hospital assessment. However, these measures do not necessarily indicate when a patient is first seen by a cancer specialist, as they may include attendance with a consultant-led team member, attendance at a diagnostic clinic, or a direct diagnostic test through a straight-to-test pathway. This data is available at the following link: