Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether her Department has made an assessment of the implications for its policies of the proposals set out in Cancer Research UK's report entitled Longer, better lives: A manifesto for cancer research and care; and what plans she has to fund cancer research in the next 10 years.

The Government welcomes Cancer Research UK’s report, which rightly highlights progress made in cancer diagnosis and care.

Cancer is a Government priority, demonstrated by the commitment to the ambition of diagnosing 75% of cancers at stages 1 and 2 by 2028. NHS England has implemented interventions to help achieve this ambition, such as Non-specific Symptom Pathways, and will continue to seek new ways to diagnose cancer earlier and save more lives, for example through the NHS-Galleri blood test trial.

Furthermore, the Department has invested over £100 million into cancer research in 2021/22 through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). In January 2023, Cancer Research UK, NIHR and the devolved administrations jointly provided funding of £47.5 million to the Experimental Cancer Medicine Centre network over the next five years. The Department is working closely with research partners in all sectors, and the Government's continued commitment to cancer research will help to build on that progress, leading to continued improvements for all cancer patients.