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 help ensure the routine freezing of suitable brain tumour tissue samples to improve patient access to genomic testing, personalised treatments and research.

The Department continues to engage with NHS England and wider stakeholders on improving access to high-quality pathology and genomics services, including those relevant to brain tumour patients.

NHS England and the Department will work with professional bodies, including the Royal College of Pathologists, to review tissue retention guidance. This work includes guidance on the consent of fresh-tissue freezing for all cancers, including for brain tumour patients. The Genomics Medicine Service has developed a Genomics Centre of Excellence for brain cancers to ensure access to whole genome sequencing (WGS) for brain tumour patients.

NHS England has made several wider commitments to address variation in the access and provision of pathology services, particularly histopathology and genomics across England, and has issued national guidance on sample handling, including for WGS of solid tumours. This guidance is intended to support consistent approaches to maintaining DNA quality, and support improved consistency and access to precision diagnostics across England, to improve personalised treatments and further support research.

In addition, standard operating procedures (SOPs) for the fresh freezing of tissue samples have already been developed across pathology networks in England. It is, however, the responsibility of individual pathology services to maintain their own SOPs for the fresh freezing of tissue samples. These protocols outline local capabilities and practices, including access and storage capacity.