Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the report by the Royal College of Radiologists entitled RCR Clinical oncology census report 2021, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of the level of the clinical oncology workforce shortfall in Yorkshire and the Humber on patient access to radiotherapy.

There are no plans to make a specific assessment. Health Education England is addressing the priorities identified in the cancer workforce plan phase 1. It is investing an additional £50 million in 2022/23, including expanding the postgraduate medical training of cancer-related medical professions, such as clinical oncologists. We have also funded an additional 1,500 undergraduate medical school places each year for domestic students in England, which was completed in September 2020.