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 improve the early diagnosis of cancers occurring in people aged under 50 years old.

The Government is committed to improving the early diagnosis of cancer for patients of all ages, including people aged under 50 years old.

The National Cancer Plan for England, published in February 2026, identifies earlier diagnosis as a key driver of improved cancer outcomes. The plan sets out action to expand diagnostic capacity, harness new technologies, including genomics and artificial intelligence, and redesign pathways to help cancers be detected and diagnosed earlier.

The Government is committed to reducing the number of cancers diagnosed through emergency presentation and improving access to faster and more convenient tests, checks, and scans. This includes expanding diagnostic capacity and improving the use of data to identify delays and variation across cancer pathways.

Full roll out of non-specific symptom pathways has been achieved across England. These pathways support earlier diagnosis for patients whose symptoms may indicate cancer but do not align with a specific tumour type, helping to identify cancers that can otherwise be diagnosed at a later stage.

The National Cancer Plan also commits to speeding up detection and diagnosis for children and young people with cancer, ensuring their needs are embedded in the design of neighbourhood health services, improving access to specialist support, and supporting the safe use of artificial intelligence-based decision tools.

In addition, the Children and Young People Cancer Taskforce is helping drive improvements across early detection and diagnosis, genomic testing and treatment, research and innovation, and patient experience, with its commitments reflected in the National Cancer Plan.