Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has had discussions with Breast Cancer Now on their findings, published 6 November 2020, that an increase in the protein HIF-1 can cause breast cancer spread; and what assessment he has had made of the implications for his policies of those findings.

The Government and NHS England and NHS Improvement are aware of the Breast Cancer Now HIF-1a research.

As acknowledged by Breast Cancer Now, further research in this area is required to understand how HIF-1a impacts the spread of breast cancer cells before it can be assessed whether HIF-1a could be a potential drug target.