Asked by: Lord Mendelsohn (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what the current NHS eligibility criteria are for CAR-T therapy for both high-grade and low-grade lymphomas.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England funds the use of licensed medicines that have been recommended by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), or the off-label use of licensed indications that have been approved via the NHS England clinical policy process.
NICE has evaluated and recommended several CAR-T therapies for both high-grade and low-grade lymphomas, some of which are recommended for a period of managed access, for instance:
To support implementation of NICE recommendations, NHS England sets clinical treatment criteria to ensure that treatments are made available to those intended by the NICE Guidance. Clinical input helps set the clinical and patient treatment criteria based on the NICE committee deliberations, how the treatment will be used within the treatment pathway, and the evidence base considered by NICE and the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment has been made of the proportion of terminated NICE health technology appraisals that are for blood cancer treatments compared to other cancers.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Since August 2019, 31% of National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) technology appraisals for blood cancer treatments were terminated as the company withdrew from the NICE appraisal process. For the same period, 21% of appraisals for all cancers were terminated.
Between 2019 and 2025 so far, 93% of blood cancer treatment recommendations in completed NICE appraisals were positive, which is higher than the rate across the whole NICE portfolio. NICE has also recommended more treatments for blood cancers in draft guidance that are now available to eligible patients through the Cancer Drugs Fund.
NICE strives to get the best care to patients fast and ensure value for the taxpayer. The aligned NICE and Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency pathway, set out in the 10-Year Health Plan, will allow NICE to bring medicines to patients three to six months sooner. NICE also continues to support and work with companies to identify the best time to submit appraisals and to ensure they have a clear understanding of NICE’s methods and processes, to try and avoid terminations.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps are being taken to improve patient access to clinically effective new blood cancer treatments for NHS patients.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is the independent body responsible for developing authoritative, evidence-based recommendations for the National Health Service on whether new medicines represent a clinically and cost-effective use of resources. NHS England funds NICE-recommended cancer medicines from the Cancer Drugs Fund from the point of positive draft NICE guidance, bringing forward patient access by approximately five months than would otherwise be the case.
For the years 2023/24 to 2024/25, NICE recommended 25 medicines to treat blood cancer that are now available for the treatment of NHS patients.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
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 increase awareness of prostate-specific antigen tests among travel insurers.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
PSA tests are blood tests that measure the amount of prostate specific antigen (PSA) in blood. Raised levels, often in combination with other symptoms, can be an indication of prostate cancer, though not exclusively. PSA tests have previously been used as a screening tool in asymptomatic populations, but their limitations mean they are not currently recommended for population-level screening. To find better ways of testing for prostate cancer, the Government is investing £16 million into the Prostate Cancer UK-led TRANSFORM screening trial, which aims to identify more effective approaches for detecting prostate cancer earlier.
While the Department has no plans to target insurers with information about PSA, the NHS website has clear and accurate information about PSA testing that can be referred to. Where someone has had a PSA test and they are concerned about their travel insurance, they should discuss this directly with their insurers. Different insurers may take a different view of the relevant factors in determining the price of insurance.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Independent - Gorton and Denton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will implement standardised regulations for the (a) collection and (b) storage of rare cancer tissue samples obtained for the purposes of (i) medical treatment and (ii) future research.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Human Tissue Authority (HTA) regulates organisations that remove, store, and use human tissue for scheduled purposes, including research and medical treatment.
Under the Human Tissue Act 2004, appropriate consent is always required to remove tissue from the deceased for research purposes. Tissue from living patients, for example biopsy or blood samples, can ordinarily be used for research only with the person's consent. The HTA ensures that it is removed and stored in an appropriate and well managed way.
Consent is not required for research on tissue from living patients if the samples are anonymised or coded to make sure patient or participant information is not identifiable, and the project has recognised ethics committee approval, or if the tissue samples were obtained before 1 September 2006, when the Human Tissue Act came into force.
Asked by: Bambos Charalambous (Labour - Southgate and Wood Green)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps the Department is taking to improve early identification and monitoring of precursor conditions for blood cancer, such as MGUS and smoldering myeloma.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
It is a priority for the Government to support the National Health Service to diagnose blood cancer and precursor conditions as quickly as possible and to treat them faster, to improve outcomes.
To improve diagnoses of blood cancers and precursor conditions, the NHS is implementing non-specific symptom (NSS) pathways for patients who present with symptoms such as weight loss and fatigue, which do not clearly align to a tumour type. Blood cancers are one of the most common cancer types diagnosed through these pathways. There are currently 115 NSS services operating in England, ensuring more patients benefit from quicker access to the right investigations.
The Government will get the NHS diagnosing blood cancers earlier and treating them faster, and will support the NHS to increase capacity to meet the demand for diagnostic services through investment, including for magnetic resonance imaging and computed tomography scanners.
The National Cancer Plan, which will be published in the new year, will include further details on how the NHS will improve outcomes for all cancer patients, including speeding up diagnosis and treatment, ensuring patients have access to the latest treatments and technology, and ultimately driving up this country’s cancer survival rates.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of the reduction in the qualifying age for bowel cancer screening on detection rates in the past five years.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The final roll out of this policy only concluded in April 2025. As such, NHS England has not yet made any formal assessment of the impact of lowering the age for bowel cancer screening down to 50 on detection rates.
However, when making the recommendation to extend the screening age, from 60- to 74- year olds to 50- to 74- year olds, and to replace the faecal occult blood test with the faecal immunochemical test at the current test sensitivity threshold of 120 micrograms of haemoglobin per gram of faeces, these two activities combined were estimated to nearly double the number of colorectal cancer incidences detected and mortality reduced.
Asked by: Lewis Cocking (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 13 October 2025 to Question 77757 on Multiple Myeloma: Diagnosis, when the NHS will fully implement non-specific symptom pathways for the purpose of earlier diagnosis of blood cancers.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We recognise that there is more to be done to ensure that every patient receives fast and early diagnosis, including patients with harder to stage cancers, such as myeloma.
The National Health Service has fully implemented non-specific symptom (NSS) pathways for patients who present with symptoms such as weight loss and fatigue, which do not clearly align to a tumour type. There are currently 115 NSS services operating in England with blood cancers being one of the most common cancer types diagnosed through these pathways.
Diagnosing cancer earlier is a key focus of the forthcoming National Cancer Plan, which will build on the shifts in care set out in the 10-Year Health Plan to diagnose cancers earlier.
Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to include targets to improve the diagnosis times for myeloma in the forthcoming National Cancer Plan for England.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Early diagnosis is a key focus of the National Cancer Plan, which will be published in the new year. It is a priority for the Government to support the National Health Service to diagnose cancer, including myeloma and other blood cancers, as early and quickly as possible, and to treat it faster, to improve outcomes.
To tackle late diagnoses of blood cancers, the NHS is implementing non-specific symptom pathways for patients who present with symptoms such as weight loss and fatigue, which do not clearly align to a tumour type. Blood cancers are one of the most common cancer types diagnosed through these pathways.
We will get the NHS diagnosing blood cancers earlier and treating it faster, and we will support the NHS to increase capacity to meet the demand for diagnostic services through investment, including for magnetic resonance imaging and computed tomography scanners.
The National Cancer Plan will include further details on how we will improve outcomes for cancer patients, including speeding up diagnosis and treatment, ensuring patients have access to the latest treatments and technology, and ultimately drive up this country’s cancer survival rates.
Asked by: Simon Opher (Labour - Stroud)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will increase funding for (a) the pathology (i) workforce, (ii) estates and (iii) IT infrastructure and (b) pathology disciplines involved in the pathways for cancer patients.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The 2025 Spending Review prioritised health, with record investment in the health and social care system. The Spending Review announced that annual National Health Service day-to-day spending will increase by £29 billion in real terms, a £53 billion cash increase, by 2028/29 compared to 2023/24.
To provide stability and ensure public services and industries have certainty in their funding, the Government has committed to holding a Spending Review every two years. The 2025 Spending Review sets departmental budgets for day-to-day spending up to 2028/29 and for capital for five years, to 2029/30. The envelope for the next Spending Review, due to be held in 2027, will be set in due course.
We will also publish a 10 Year Workforce Plan to ensure the NHS has the right people in the right places, with the right skills to deliver the best care for patients, when they need it.
As part of the £600 million in capital for diagnostics in 2025/26, announced as part of the Spending Review, the NHS is investing in histopathology automation technology, which will speed up pathology test reporting across England, helping to ensure that patients get their diagnoses faster and supporting reductions in elective waiting lists.
We are funding all pathology networks to increase digital capabilities by March 2026. This will reduce unnecessary waits and repeat tests to ensure that patients receive their blood test results sooner. These actions will help improve patient pathways, including for cancer.