Vital Signs: Cancer

Briefing · Parliament

Parliament debates cancer waiting times, screening ages, radiotherapy deserts and brain tumour research funding

1. 01The Health Bill committee sittings were the most sustained forum for cancer policy debate. Liberal Democrat MPs Helen Morgan and Tim Farron pressed new clauses that would give patients a legal right to cancer treatment within 62 days of referral and require a national framework for radiotherapy services, arguing that England has fewer radiotherapy machines than comparable European countries and that radiotherapy currently has the worst 62-day performance of all main cancer treatments [c36, c48]. Minister Karin Smyth said improving radiotherapy access was already a government priority, pointing to £70 million allocated for new machines and commitments in the national cancer plan, and declined to support the new clauses as drafted [c37, c181, c183].
2. 02A dedicated Westminster Hall debate on lobular breast cancer, secured by John Milne (Liberal Democrat, Horsham), heard cross-party calls for £20 million over five years for the Lobular Moon Shot Project, marking the first anniversary of the death of its founder Dr Susan Michaelis [c79, c95, c96]. Minister Stephen Kinnock said the Government would not ringfence the money, preferring open peer-reviewed competition for research funding, but acknowledged he did not know the precise status of live bids and undertook to write to members [c86, c94]. A separate Westminster Hall debate on NHS breast screening, opened by Irene Campbell (Labour, North Ayrshire and Arran), heard calls from a petition of over 106,000 signatories to lower the routine mammogram age to 40 and screen annually; Minister Sharon Hodgson said the AgeX trial, due to report in 2027, would provide the evidence base needed before any change to the programme [c138, c157].
3. 03The national lung cancer screening programme attracted broad cross-party praise in a Westminster Hall debate secured by Clive Jones (Liberal Democrat, Wokingham), who described it as the only cancer initiative that had improved rates of early-stage diagnosis in recent years [c164]. Jones pressed the government for a ringfenced budget guarantee for the programme and asked what safeguards would protect continuity of data management and leadership during the abolition of NHS England [c177]. Minister Stephen Kinnock said the programme was prioritising areas of greatest deprivation and confirmed the government was committed to expanding it [c170, c180].
4. 04Michelle Welsh (Labour, Sherwood Forest) used a Westminster Hall debate to call for removal of the three-month qualifying period for disability living allowance for children with cancer, describing the case of her constituent Mabel, a four-year-old diagnosed with Wilms' kidney cancer, whose family were told they did not qualify because the condition had not lasted more than six months [c11, c15]. Jim Shannon (DUP, Strangford) supported the call, saying families could accumulate up to £5,000 in debt during the qualifying period [c17]. Parliamentary Under-Secretary Lilian Greenwood noted the government had consulted on Hugh's Law, a possible statutory entitlement to leave for parents of seriously ill children, and said ministers would respond to the consultation in coming months [c14].
5. 05Brain tumour research featured repeatedly across the period. Lee Barron (Labour, Corby and East Northamptonshire) raised the case of 14-year-old Max Hall, who had a high-grade brain tumour, at Prime Minister's Questions, asking why brain tumour research remained so underfunded when brain tumours are the biggest cancer killer of under-40s [c188]. Prime Minister Andy Burnham committed to asking the relevant minister to meet Max's family and cited his personal connection to the issue through the late Tessa Jowell [c19]. Josh Newbury (Labour, Cannock Chase) separately paid tribute to a constituent who had died from a brain tumour, noting that fewer than 13% of adults diagnosed with a high-grade tumour survive beyond five years and that the condition accounts for just 3.2% of national cancer research funding [c41].