Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of providing funding for upgrades to existing cancer centres.

The Department has published its Health Infrastructure Plan in September 2019 that sets out the Government’s strategy and priorities for investing in the National Health Service estate, including in cancer centres. We are at present working on an update to this strategy through to 2030.

Currently, we do not have a national capital programme strictly dedicated to cancer centres. However, there are several programmes, including the Targeted Investment Fund, the New Hospital Programme and the Hospital Upgrades Programme, that are funding upgrades to existing cancer centres. These schemes are assessed on a case-by-case basis.