Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that the needs of people affected by brain tumours are considered in the Cancer Plan.

The Government recognises that a cancer-specific approach is needed to meet the challenges in cancer care, and the value in engaging in wide-ranging and meaningful engagement and consultation on how cancer services can meet the needs of those living with cancer, including for those affected by brain tumours. We plan to engage with a wide range of cancer partners, including charities and patient representative bodies.

The Health Mission sets the objective of building a National Health Service fit for the future. As part of that work, Lord Darzi’s report will inform our 10-Year Health Plan to reform the NHS. In addition, following publication of the 10-Year Health Plan, we will publish a new National Cancer Plan, which will include further details on how we will improve outcomes for cancer patients, including brain tumour patients.

We are now in discussions about what form the National Cancer Plan should take, and what its relationship to the 10-Year Health Plan and the Government’s wider Health Mission should be, and will provide updates on this in due course.

Alongside this work, the Department, NHS England, and the National Institute for Health Care and Research (NIHR) are taking several steps to help improve outcomes for brain tumour patients.

NHS England is committed to ensuring that all cancer patients are offered a Holistic Needs Assessment and Personalised Care and Support Planning, ensuring care is focused on what matters most to each person. As well as this, all patients, including those with secondary cancers, will have access to the right expertise and support, including a Clinical Nurse Specialist or other support worker.

Further to this, in September 2024, the NIHR announced new research funding opportunities for brain cancer research, spanning both adult and paediatric populations. This includes a national NIHR Brain Tumour Research Consortium, to ensure the most promising research opportunities are made available to adult and child patients, and a new funding call to generate high quality evidence in brain tumour care, support, and rehabilitation.