Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much funding his Department plans to provide for Community Diagnostic Centres in the 2025-26 financial year; and if he will take steps to improve access to these centres in each region.

The Elective Reform Plan, published in January 2025, committed to expanding existing community diagnostic centres (CDCs), as well as building up to five new ones in 25/26, to support the National Health Service to return to meeting the elective waiting time constitutional standard. The plan also commits to CDCs opening 12 hours a day, seven days a week, delivering more same-day tests and consultations, an expanded range of tests, with direct referral from primary and community care, new consulting rooms and at least 10 straight-to-test pathways by March 2026.

NHS England will work with local NHS systems to identify the most appropriate locations for investments, including new CDCs, and expansions of existing CDCs. A key factor they will consider is that new CDCs are positioned in a location which addresses local need and will address health inequalities.

The 2025/25 capital guidance confirmed that £1.65 billion of capital funding will be allocated to support NHS performance across secondary and emergency care across 2025/26 more broadly.

This includes £450 million which has been provisionally allocated for diagnostics including CDCs. This includes funding to enable the completion of 2024/25 schemes; as well as to expand existing and build new CDCs. £20 million has also been allocated directly to relevant trusts via separate processes for CDC pathway productivity.

As detailed in the 2025/26 capital guidance, published on 30 January 2025, NHS England has also provided systems with their operational capital envelopes. These allocations are managed locally, with systems prioritising investments in line with their clinical and operational needs.

Future capital investment beyond 2025-26 will be considered as part of the next Spending Review.