Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of the withdrawal of funding for AI auto-contouring technology on patient care.

We are committed to transforming diagnostic services and will support the National Health Service to increase capacity to meet the demand for diagnostic services through investment in new capacity, including artificial intelligence where it is beneficial to do so.

As the Department focuses on shifting from analogue to digital, we will continue to review opportunities to utilise artificial intelligence to speed up diagnostic performance, bring down waiting times, and ultimately improve patient care and outcomes.

Furthermore, any future spending commitments beyond 2025/26 will be determined through the next phase of the Spending Review process, which will conclude in June.