Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to improve treatment for lobular breast cancer.

The Department is committed to ensuring that the National Health Service diagnoses cancer earlier and treats it faster so that more patients, including those with lobular breast cancer, survive.

The National Cancer Plan strives to ensure that we are a world leader on cancer research and innovation, to help the health and care system to prevent, detect, and better treat and manage a wider range of cancers, contributing to survival rates.

The Medical Research Council and the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) are committed to continuing to support the development of fundable research proposals into lobular breast cancer and to helping drive a stronger collective understanding of the biology behind lobular breast cancer, as well as the effective treatment and management of this disease.

In order to further stimulate research in this area, and following a meeting between campaigners and my Rt. Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, the NIHR launched a highlight notice in late 2025, encouraging applications across its research programmes and training. The NIHR continues to welcome high quality applications for research into any aspect of human health and care, including lobular breast cancer. 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 the public and health and care services, value for money, and scientific quality.