Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions he and Ministers in his Department have had with NHS England about the implications for re-evaluating the Cancer Drugs Fund list on breast cancer patients; what the content of those discussions was; and if he will make a statement.

Ministers have had no such discussions. Departmental officials have had discussions with NHS England regarding the changes NHS England has made to the standard operating procedures for the Cancer Drugs Fund. These discussions have not focussed on the potential impact of these changes on drugs available for specific types of cancer.

NHS England has assured the Department that no patient whose treatment is currently being funded through the Fund will have funding withdrawn, as long as it is clinically appropriate that they continue to receive that treatment. In addition, no drug will be removed from the Fund where it was the only therapy for that condition and doctors will be able to apply for particular drugs by exception.