Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the (a) speed of diagnosis and (b) time from diagnosis to treatment in (i) children and (ii) teenagers with cancer.

The Department is committed to getting the National Health Service diagnosing cancer earlier and treating it faster so that more patients survive, including children and teenagers. The Department, NHS England and other NHS partner organisations are taking a range of steps to improve waiting times for cancer diagnosis and treatment across all cancer patient groups.

The Department set out expectations for renewed focus on cancer targets in the Elective Reform Plan, published on 6 January 2025. The department has asked systems and providers to identify local opportunities in both community diagnostic centres and hospital based diagnostic services to improve performance against the faster diagnosis standard, to reduce the number of patients, including children and teenagers, waiting too long for a confirmed diagnosis of cancer.

As a first step to reducing waiting times for cancer diagnosis and treatment, the NHS has now exceeded its pledge to deliver an extra two million operations, scans, and appointments in our first year of Government, delivering 5.2 million more appointments. This means that patients are being seen and diagnosed more quickly for cancer. Between October 2024 and September 2025, around 193,000 more patients got a diagnosis or the all-clear on time than in the year from July 2023 to June 2024.

We have already made significant strides in enhancing cancer diagnosis and treatment. The performance against the 31-day decision-to-treat standard has shown a year-on-year improvement, rising from 90.6% in September 2024 to 91.2% in September 2025. Similarly, the performance for the 62-day referral-to-treatment standard has advanced from 67.4% in September 2024 to 67.9% in September 2025. As set out in the Medium Term Planning Framework, we are committed to improving performance against key cancer standards: Maintaining performance against the 28-day faster diagnosis standard at 80% and improving 31- and 62-day standards to 96% and 85% respectively by 2028/29.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has set out detailed guidance for general practitioners on the symptoms of cancer in children and young people, recommending referral within 48 hours for those presenting with a range of potential cancer symptoms.

NHS England and other National Health Service organisations, nationally and locally, publish information on the signs and symptoms of many different types of cancer, including those that are most common in children and teenagers. Further information on cancer signs and symptoms is available on the NHS.UK website.

The Department has recently launched Jess’s Rule, a patient safety initiative that asks general practitioners (GPs) to think again if, after three appointments, they have been unable to diagnose a patient, or their symptoms have escalated. This means when a patient returns three times with worsening or undiagnosed symptoms, GPs must reflect, review and rethink. This could include seeking a second opinion, offering episodic continuity of care, ordering additional tests, and offering more face-to-face appointments.

The National Disease Registration Service (NDRS) collects patient data on cancer, congenital anomalies and rare diseases. The NDRS currently has imaging data undertaken in the NHS in England for all cancers, including for children and teenagers with cancer. This is linked to the main cancer registration data. The NDRS collaborates and advises through a number of partners, in the United Kingdom and internationally to improve data accuracy on cancer.

On 4 February 2025, the department relaunched the Children and Young People Cancer Taskforce to identify tangible ways to improve outcomes and experiences for young cancer patients. The taskforce will explore opportunities for improvement, including detection and diagnosis, genomic testing and treatment, research and innovation, and patient experience. The taskforce will also ensure that the unique needs of children and teenagers with cancer are carefully considered as part of the National Cancer Plan for England.