Asked by: Steff Aquarone (Liberal Democrat - North Norfolk)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to Action 15 of the National Cancer Plan, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure that patients in remote and rural areas with poor access to public transport are not disadvantaged in their ability to access specialist treatment.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Cancer Plan sets out how we will tackle unwarranted geographical variation head on and ensure that everyone has access to the best diagnostic and treatment services, no matter their postcode.
We recognise that rural and coastal areas have been struggling for too long, which is why this plan is increasing the number of training places for cancer consultants in rural and coastal areas, particularly in areas where there are a high number of vacancies. This will ensure quality improvement in the trusts with the greatest needs and provide all patients with access to specialised cancer doctors.
We will utilise data driven service planning tools, to support local systems to plan specialist care in a way that is accessible to everyone. It will take account of travel time and the impact on different groups who can experience disparities, such as older people, some ethnic groups, and those that live in rural and coastal areas.
Asked by: Adam Dance (Liberal Democrat - Yeovil)
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 potential merits of people walking on (a) cancer prevention and (b) cancer recovery.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Being physically active, including walking and brisk walking, can help with the prevention and management of long-term health conditions, such as some cancers. Movement is an important part of care for people going through cancer treatment, helping to support recovery and boosting mental health and wellbeing.
The recently published National Cancer Plan is putting quality of life at the heart of cancer care, including physical activity to help patients through treatment successfully. Every patient will get a personalised plan that looks at their physical, mental, and practical needs, with support increasingly delivered through neighbourhood services and accessible digitally through the NHS App.
Under the plan we will deliver a universal digital-first prehabilitation offer for all cancer patients through the NHS App and other digital channels. This will include signposting to other existing digital services such as exercise classes and walking apps like NHS Active 10, ensuring cancer patients can best prepare for their treatment at, or close to, home.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
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 help reduce regional inequalities in health outcomes.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
It is a priority for the Government to increase the amount of time people spend in good health and prevent premature deaths, with an ambitious commitment to halve the healthy life expectancy gap between the richest and poorest regions.
We know that everyday life poses greater health risks to the most disadvantaged in society, and that the current model of care works least well for those who already experience disadvantage and are far more likely to have complex needs. To help tackle this, we will distribute National Health Service funding more equally locally, so it is better aligned with health need.
Further to this, much of what determines health and wellbeing is influenced by factors other than health services. As a result, we are taking bold action across the Government on the social determinants of health to build a fairer Britain, where everyone lives well for longer.
Cross-Government activity includes the introduction of Awaab’s Law, ensuring landlords will have to fix significant damp and mould hazards, and legislating for a new statutory health and health inequalities duty for strategic authorities.
We support the NHS’s CORE20PLUS5 approach which targets action to reduce health inequalities in the most deprived 20% of the population and improve outcomes for groups that experience the worst access, experience, and outcomes within the NHS. The approach focuses on improving the five clinical areas at most need of accelerated improvement, namely cardiovascular disease, cancer, respiratory, maternity, and mental health outcomes, in the poorest 20% of the population, along with other disadvantaged population groups identified at a local level.
In addition, we know that the Carr-Hill formula, the United Kingdom’s formula for allocating core funding to general practices (GPs), is considered outdated, and evidence suggests that GPs serving in deprived parts of England receive on average 9.8% less funding per needs adjusted patient than those in less deprived communities, despite having greater health needs and significantly higher patient-to-GP ratios. This is why we are currently reviewing the formula to ensure that resources are targeted where they are most needed.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent steps has he taken to increase bowel screening uptake in Slough constituency.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Improving cancer services is a priority for the Government. We will get the National Health Service diagnosing cancer earlier and treating it faster so that more patients survive, and we will improve patients’ experience across the system. Slough is seeing an improvement in bowel screening uptake, although this remains below the national average.
Commissioners and providers continue to work together to address this variation and to ensure that all eligible residents are supported to participate in screening at the earliest opportunity.
The Berkshire Bowel Cancer Screening Programme and local partners have undertaken several initiatives to increase awareness and participation in Slough including:
In addition, Slough Borough Council is actively supporting improvement in cancer screening uptake through communication and training measures.
All partners remain committed to collaborative working to reduce inequalities, strengthen pathways, and support increased uptake among underserved populations.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Friern Barnet)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how the National Cancer Plan will support people with secondary breast cancer.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Cancer Plan, published 4 February 2026, will transform outcomes for people with secondary breast cancer.
The National Health Service is piloting the use of self-referral breast cancer pathways to streamline diagnostic pathways using the NHS App and NHS 111 online service. This is in addition to the Government’s commitment for the NHS to deliver 9.5 million additional tests by 2029 through a £2.3 billion investment in diagnostics. We are also ensuring as many community diagnostic centres as possible are fully operational and open 12 hours a day, seven days a week.
To improve the diagnosis of breast cancer, the NHS will harness 'circulating tumour DNA' tests for breast cancer, which can pick up relapse months earlier. This will accelerate clinical decisions and allow patients to start the most effective treatment faster.
The NHS will monitor the emerging evidence from the BRAID trial, which aims to determine whether additional imaging with one of several types of scans, is helpful in diagnosing breast cancer in women with dense breast tissue. This will target screening programmes at women who are at greater risk of cancer.
The NHS is also improving the experience of those with a cancer diagnosis. Every patient diagnosed with cancer will be supported through a full neighbourhood-level personalised care package, covering mental and physical health as well as any practical or financial concerns. For people with secondary breast cancer, this will be a step forward in building care around them, their needs, their lives, and their families.
We will harness data, as we begin counting metastatic disease, starting with breast cancer, so that people living with incurable cancer are properly recognised and better supported.
Through these National Cancer Plan actions, we will ensure that people with secondary breast cancer have faster diagnoses and treatment, access to the latest treatments and technology, and high-quality support throughout their journey, while we work to drive up this country’s cancer survival rates.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to increase the (a) accessibility and (b) availability of functional MRI scans.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans can be taken on standard clinical MRI machines. However, whilst functional MRI requires specialised software to detect blood flow changes, the blood-oxygen-level-dependent signal, and sometimes extra equipment for stimuli, for instance goggles, it uses the same scanner hardware as structural MRI.
We are committed to transforming diagnostic services and will support the National Health Service to increase diagnostic capacity to meet the demand for diagnostic services, including MRI scanners.
The 2025 Spending Review confirmed over £6 billion of additional capital investment over five years across new diagnostic, elective, and urgent care capacity. This includes £600 million in capital funding for diagnostics in 2025/26 to support delivery of the NHS performance standards. This funding will deliver replacement of the oldest MRI scanners in community diagnostic centres and acute hospital settings, as well as delivering MRI acceleration software. Business cases for the locations of these are being considered for approval.
Capital investment will be targeted to locations where it will enable the additional activity required to deliver the return to referral to treatment and cancer constitutional standards promised, as well as considering local levels of deprivation so that investment supports efforts to reduce health inequalities.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
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 access to healthcare services in rural areas.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government’s 10-Year Health Plan has set out a long-term vision to reform the National Health Service and make it fit for the future. Addressing healthcare inequity is a core focus of the 10-Year Health Plan, to ensure the NHS is there for anyone who needs it whenever they need it.
This includes ending the postcode lottery for cancer patients through introducing new training places targeted at trusts with the biggest workforce gaps, prioritising rural and coastal areas.
There are also a range of adjustments made to integrated care board funding allocations that account for the fact that the costs of providing health care may vary between rural and urban areas. These adjustments specifically support remote or sparsely populated areas.
Asked by: Chris Evans (Labour (Co-op) - Caerphilly)
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 potential impact of limited fresh-freezing capacity on patients’ access to emerging cancer (a) testing and (b) treatments.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Fresh-freezing, also referred to as snap-freezing, is a standard technique used by pathology networks to preserve tissue architecture without chemical fixatives, allowing for subsequent molecular or histological analysis, typically supporting research or advanced diagnostic applications.
Pathology services in England are delivered through 27 regional pathology networks, and offer a comprehensive range of tests, including the analysis of brain tissues.
Individual pathology services maintain their own standard operating procedures (SOPs) for fresh tissue samples and for the snap-freezing of tissue samples. These SOPs outline local capabilities and practices.
It is important that everyone, regardless of where they live, can access the latest innovations in the health and care system through research. The Department invests over £1.6 billion each year in research through the National Institute of Health and Care Research (NIHR). The NIHR’s investments for capital equipment, technology, and modular buildings support NHS trusts across England to deliver high-quality research to improve the health of the population. This investment includes cutting edge research equipment and fixed assets such as ultra-low and cryogenic freezers, to strengthen research capacity and improve access to samples for research.
The Department is exploring options to expand brain tissue freezing capacity.
Asked by: Chris Evans (Labour (Co-op) - Caerphilly)
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 adequacy of (a) fresh-freezing, (b) snap-freezing and (c) flash frozen capacity for brain cancer tissue samples across NHS trusts in England.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Fresh-freezing, also referred to as snap-freezing, is a standard technique used by pathology networks to preserve tissue architecture without chemical fixatives, allowing for subsequent molecular or histological analysis, typically supporting research or advanced diagnostic applications.
Pathology services in England are delivered through 27 regional pathology networks, and offer a comprehensive range of tests, including the analysis of brain tissues.
Individual pathology services maintain their own standard operating procedures (SOPs) for fresh tissue samples and for the snap-freezing of tissue samples. These SOPs outline local capabilities and practices.
It is important that everyone, regardless of where they live, can access the latest innovations in the health and care system through research. The Department invests over £1.6 billion each year in research through the National Institute of Health and Care Research (NIHR). The NIHR’s investments for capital equipment, technology, and modular buildings support NHS trusts across England to deliver high-quality research to improve the health of the population. This investment includes cutting edge research equipment and fixed assets such as ultra-low and cryogenic freezers, to strengthen research capacity and improve access to samples for research.
The Department is exploring options to expand brain tissue freezing capacity.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool Riverside)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the funding required to ensure equitable access to tissue-freezing services for cancer patients across England; and whether his Department is taking steps to reduce regional disparities.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Pathology services in England are delivered through 27 regional pathology networks, and offer a comprehensive range of tests, including the analysis of brain tissues. Individual pathology services maintain their own standard operating procedures (SOPs) for fresh, or snap-freezing, of tissue samples. These SOPs outline local capabilities and practices.
It is important that everyone, regardless of where they live, can access the latest innovations in the health and care system through research. The Department invests over £1.6 billion each year in research through the National Institute of Health and Care Research (NIHR). The NIHR’s investments for capital equipment, technology, and modular buildings support National Health Service trusts across England to deliver high-quality research to improve the health of the population. This investment includes cutting edge research equipment and fixed assets such as ultra-low and cryogenic freezers, to strengthen research capacity and improve access to samples for research.
The Department is exploring options to expand brain tissue freezing capacity.