Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what proportion of the £1 billion from the Spending Review 2020 for tackling the health screening backlog will be used to increase the number of NHS staff working on breast cancer.

The Spending Review 2020 provides £260 million to continue to grow the National Health Service workforce and support commitments made in the NHS Long Term Plan, including continuing to take forward the cancer workforce plan phase one. Full details on funding allocations towards NHS workforce budgets, including Health Education England, in 2021-22 will be subject to a detailed financial planning exercise and finalised in due course.

We have confirmed an additional £3 billion for the NHS next year to support the recovery from the impact of COVID-19. This includes around £1 billion to begin tackling the elective backlog, around £500 million for mental health services and investment in the NHS workforce and around £1.5 billion to help ease existing pressures caused by COVID-19.