Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to reduce reliance on locum consultants in blood cancer teams at district general hospitals.

The planning guidance states that trusts should reduce their agency spend by 30% this year, and reduce bank spend by 10%. It also sets our ambition to eliminate agency use in the coming years.

NHS England is investing in expanding specialty training posts in high-demand cancer disciplines, including haematology, and is supporting local systems to retain and develop multidisciplinary teams. This includes workforce modelling, to identify gaps, and rolling out an appropriate workforce skill mix through scientific workforce pathways.