Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department has taken to increase recruitment to clinical trials, in particular for drugs to treat rare cancers.

The Department is committed to ensuring that all patients, including those with rare cancers, have access to cutting-edge clinical trials and innovative, lifesaving treatments.

The Department funded National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) funds research and research infrastructure which supports patients and the public to participate in high-quality research. The NIHR supports the delivery of clinical trials through the Research Delivery Network, ensuring that patients across the National Health Service can participate in high-quality studies and that recruitment data is used to target support where it is most needed.

As set out in our National Cancer Plan, the Government will implement the Rare Cancers Act 2026 to make it easier for clinical trials on brain cancer to take place in England, by ensuring the patient population can be more easily contacted by researchers.

Additionally, the NIHR provides an online service called Be Part of Research which promotes participation in health and care research, by allowing users to search for relevant studies and register their interest.