Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will formally respond to Cancer Research UK's publication entitled Longer, better lives: A manifesto for cancer research and care, published in November 2023; and if she will make it her policy to accept the recommendations contained in that document.

The Government welcomes the Cancer Research UK (CRUK) report, Longer, better lives: A manifesto for cancer research and care, which rightly highlights progress made in cancer diagnosis and care. The Department has not made a formal assessment of the recommendations, given the significant amount of work across the cancer programme led by NHS England and supported by the department.

Cancer is a Government and National Health Service 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, CRUK, the NIHR and the devolved administrations jointly provided funding of £47.5 million to the Experimental Cancer Medicine Centre network over the next 5 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.