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 ensure that patients have timely access to innovative cancer medicines.

In England, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) makes recommendations for the National Health Service on whether new licensed medicines should be routinely funded by the NHS based on an assessment of clinical and cost effectiveness. The NHS is legally required to fund NICE recommended medicines, normally within three months of final guidance, and cancer medicines are eligible for funding from the point of a positive draft NICE recommendation. NICE aims wherever possible to issue guidance on new medicines close to the time of licensing to ensure that patients are able to benefit from rapid access to clinically and cost effective new medicines.

The Life Sciences Sector Plan sets out the measures we are taking that will mean that patients are able to access medicines three to six months faster, including improved alignment between the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency’s decisions and NICE guidance publication.

In England in 2024/25, 93% of NICE recommendations for cancer treatments were positive. Positive includes recommended, optimised, recommended in the cancer drugs fund (CDF), and optimised in the CDF.

Health is a devolved matter and as such it would not be appropriate for me to comment on access to medicines within the devolved administrations.