Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to the National Audit Office's report, Progress in improving cancer services and outcomes in England, published in January 2015, what the total spend on cancer care in the NHS per newly diagnosed patient was for the most recent period for which figures are available.

The National Audit Office published an estimate of the total amount spent on cancer care in the National Health Service to show the relative scale of the cost of cancer services to the NHS. The NHS does not routinely publish estimates of the total amount spent on cancer patients as the large scale and highly complex range of services that cancer patients interact with makes this very difficult. Many of the services used by people with cancer, in particular diagnostic and rehabilitation services, but also some treatment services, are not specific to cancer patients.