Asked by: Karin Smyth (Labour - Bristol South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much funding has been allocated to (a) implementing the national roll-out of lung cancer screening and (b) increasing CT scanner capacity to support the national roll-out of lung cancer screening in each financial year until 2027-2028.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Targeted Lung Cancer Screening Programme, once fully rolled out in 2030, will offer people aged 55 to 74 who are at high risk of lung cancer, screening every 2 years and will detect around 9,000 cancers earlier each year.
Plans for 2024/25 are currently being finalised by NHS England, including delivery trajectories. Over £100 million of revenue funding is available to support the implementation of the NHS Lung Cancer Screening Programme in 2024/25.
Plans for 2025/26 and beyond will be subject to the outcome of a future Spending Review.
Assessing the funding required for computed tomography scanner capacity specifically is not possible as much of this capacity is commissioned by NHS England as part of a wider service, using broader programme funds.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what information her Department holds on the number of operations that were (a) cancelled and (b) delayed by more than two months due to the industrial action by junior doctors in 2023.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The number of operations that were cancelled due to the industrial action by junior doctors in 2023, was 157,570. Data is not held regarding operations delayed by more than two months. The National Health Service is prioritising urgent, emergency, and cancer care, and will continue to do its best to maintain appointments and elective procedures wherever possible. Cancelled appointments that need to be rescheduled, will be done so as a priority. Data on the impact of industrial action is available here:
Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many children of which biological sex were prescribed puberty blockers in each year since 2010.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
Gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonists or ‘puberty blockers’ are used to treat several medical conditions in children and young people. These include precocious puberty, some forms of cancer, endometriosis and gender dysphoria. Information on biological sex is not held in the format requested.
Asked by: Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will encourage the National Institute for Health and Care Research to rigorously evaluate existing research efforts and review how they can further prioritise and drive research investment for pancreatic cancer and other less survivable cancers.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Research is crucial in the fight against cancer, which is why the Department invests £1 billion per year in health research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). NIHR research expenditure for all cancers was £121 million for 2022/23.
In terms of establishing targeted funding into pancreatic cancer, the NIHR funds research in response to proposals received from scientists rather than allocating funding to specific disease areas. It is not usual practice to ring-fence funds for particular topics or conditions. Applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards made on the basis of the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money, and scientific quality.
The Government, through the NIHR, is committed to improving research into pancreatic cancer and cancers with the poorest survival rates by funding high quality, timely research that leads to improved outcomes for patients and the public, and makes the health and social care system more efficient, effective, and safe. Research evidence is vital for improving treatments and outcomes for people, including those with pancreatic cancer and other less survivable cancers.
In 2023, the Government awarded £2 million to new interdisciplinary research teams tackling hard to treat cancers, via the Medical Research Council, which hosted a two-day cancer sandpit strategic funding opportunity, focused on technological innovation for understanding cancers with the poorest survival rates.
The NIHR has funded seven research projects for pancreatic cancer for the period 2019 to 2023, with a total committed spend of approximately £3.6 million. The NIHR also supports the delivery of pancreatic cancer research funded by those in the charity and public sectors. For example, since 2019, the NIHR Clinical Research Network has supported over 70 pancreatic cancer-related studies.
The NIHR continues to encourage and welcome applications for research into any aspect of human health, including pancreatic cancer. All applications are assessed for funding by peer review committees. The level of research spend in a particular area is driven by factors including the quality of the proposals and their scientific potential. All applications for research into pancreatic cancer and other less survivable cancers made through open competition have been funded.
Asked by: Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will establish targeted funding to prioritise and drive research investment into pancreatic cancer and the other less survivable cancers.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Research is crucial in the fight against cancer, which is why the Department invests £1 billion per year in health research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). NIHR research expenditure for all cancers was £121 million for 2022/23.
In terms of establishing targeted funding into pancreatic cancer, the NIHR funds research in response to proposals received from scientists rather than allocating funding to specific disease areas. It is not usual practice to ring-fence funds for particular topics or conditions. Applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards made on the basis of the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money, and scientific quality.
The Government, through the NIHR, is committed to improving research into pancreatic cancer and cancers with the poorest survival rates by funding high quality, timely research that leads to improved outcomes for patients and the public, and makes the health and social care system more efficient, effective, and safe. Research evidence is vital for improving treatments and outcomes for people, including those with pancreatic cancer and other less survivable cancers.
In 2023, the Government awarded £2 million to new interdisciplinary research teams tackling hard to treat cancers, via the Medical Research Council, which hosted a two-day cancer sandpit strategic funding opportunity, focused on technological innovation for understanding cancers with the poorest survival rates.
The NIHR has funded seven research projects for pancreatic cancer for the period 2019 to 2023, with a total committed spend of approximately £3.6 million. The NIHR also supports the delivery of pancreatic cancer research funded by those in the charity and public sectors. For example, since 2019, the NIHR Clinical Research Network has supported over 70 pancreatic cancer-related studies.
The NIHR continues to encourage and welcome applications for research into any aspect of human health, including pancreatic cancer. All applications are assessed for funding by peer review committees. The level of research spend in a particular area is driven by factors including the quality of the proposals and their scientific potential. All applications for research into pancreatic cancer and other less survivable cancers made through open competition have been funded.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s severity modifier on the prescribing of cancer medicines.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published its updated manual for health technology evaluations in January 2022, and has introduced a number of changes to make its methods and processes fairer, faster, and more consistent.
This includes the introduction of a broader severity modifier in place of the end-of-life modifier. NICE has been monitoring the impact of the changes that it introduced and analysis carried out by NICE for the first year of the updated manual’s implementation shows that NICE’s committee accepted 11 out of 13 cases where the company applied for a severity modifier, with eight of these being for cancer medicines.
Asked by: Lord Wills (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made, in each of the past five years, of the economic costs of the effects of post-operative cancer treatments.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department is working jointly with NHS England and Cancer Alliances to ensure every person receives personalised care and support from cancer diagnosis onwards, including post-treatment. As outlined in the NHS Long Term Plan for cancer, where appropriate, every person diagnosed with cancer will have access to personalised care, including needs assessment, a care plan and health and wellbeing information and support. After treatment, the person will move to a follow-up pathway that suits their needs, and ensures they can get rapid access to clinical support, where they are worried that their cancer may have recurred.
Post-operative cancer treatments encompass a wide variety of care, depending on the type and stage of cancer, the treatment the patient has had, and the patient’s needs. Follow-up care often includes regular check-ups, blood tests, scans, and procedures. It may also involve further treatments to deal with late and long-term side effects, including chemotherapy or radiotherapy to reduce the risk of cancer coming back. These highly individualised treatments have varying economic costs.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the research article by University College London entitled Cigarette smoking and e-cigarette use induce shared DNA methylation changes linked to carcinogenesis, published on 19 March 2024, if she will ban advertising for vapes.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government’s position on vaping remains unchanged, if you don’t smoke, don’t vape, and children should never vape. Studies are important in helping to better understand the long-term health risks associated with vaping, but the mentioned study, that was carried out by University College London, corroborated by Cancer Research UK, does not demonstrate a causal relationship between vaping and cancer.
Overall, studies on the effects of vaping have so far shown that vapes are less harmful than smoking and can help people quit, although the long-term risks are unknown. Vaping is never recommended for children, and carries potential harms of future addiction while their lungs and brains are still developing. There is a lack of research on the potential long-term harms from vaping, and we are exploring future opportunities with the United Kingdom’s research councils.
Otherwise, I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 6 February 2024 to Question 12629, as our position on the advertising of vapes remains unchanged.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she has commissioned research into cellular changes in lung tissue for those who vape to assess the risks of future cancer.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government’s position on vaping remains unchanged, if you don’t smoke, don’t vape, and children should never vape. Studies are important in helping to better understand the long-term health risks associated with vaping, but the mentioned study, that was carried out by University College London, corroborated by Cancer Research UK, does not demonstrate a causal relationship between vaping and cancer.
Overall, studies on the effects of vaping have so far shown that vapes are less harmful than smoking and can help people quit, although the long-term risks are unknown. Vaping is never recommended for children, and carries potential harms of future addiction while their lungs and brains are still developing. There is a lack of research on the potential long-term harms from vaping, and we are exploring future opportunities with the United Kingdom’s research councils.
Otherwise, I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 6 February 2024 to Question 12629, as our position on the advertising of vapes remains unchanged.
Asked by: Charles Walker (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the level of NHS funding for brain tumour research compared to research into other cancers; and if she will provide the quantum of NHS research funding into brain tumours for each of the last five financial years.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department invests over £1 billion per year into health research, through the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), whose research spending for all cancers was £121.8 million in 2022/23. Funding for the delivery of brain cancer studies in the National Health Service cannot be disaggregated from other studies, but to indicate scale, in 2022/23 the NIHR Clinical Research Network supported 61 brain cancer studies and recruited 4,317 participants to these studies.
Over the past five financial years, the NIHR has spent over £11.3 million in funding for brain cancer research. The following table shows the amount of funding awarded for brain cancer research, from 2018/19 to 2022/23:
Financial Year | Funding amount |
2018/19 | £2.9 million |
2019/20 | £150,000 |
2020/21 | £2.2 million |
2021/22 | £5.3 million |
2022/23 | £750,000 |
Total | £11.3 million |
Note: the amount of funding awarded will differ to actual spend in a given year, as total spending will include that of multi-year awards made in previous years.
The NIHR funds research in response to proposals received from scientists, rather than allocating funding to specific disease areas. It is not usual practice to ring-fence funds for particular topics or conditions. Applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards made on the basis of the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money, and scientific quality.
To increase the quality, diversity, and number of brain cancer research proposals, the NIHR is working with the Tessa Jowell Brain Cancer Mission and the research community, to develop research capacity in the brain cancer community.