Written questions by Anderson.

What steps he is taking to help raise public awareness of routes for support to prevent male suicide.

The Suicide Prevention Strategy for England identifies middle aged men as a priority group for targeted and tailored support at a national level. There needs to be appropriate support and signposting for suicide prevention from services men commonly interact with, especially primary care, as well as Government agencies, and wider physical and mental health services. This can also include places where people may seek support for risk factors that have been linked to male suicide, including debt, and alcohol and drug misuse. On 19 November, to coincide with International Men’s Health Day, we published the Men’s Health Strategy. The strategy includes tangible actions to improve access to healthcare, provide the right support to enable men to make healthier choices, develop healthy living and working conditions, foster strong social, community, and family networks and address societal norms. It also considers how to prevent and tackle the biggest health problems affecting men of all ages, which include mental health and suicide, respiratory illness, prostate cancer, and heart disease. Through the Men’s Health Strategy, we are launching a groundbreaking partnership with the Premier League to tackle male suicide and improve mental health literacy, by embedding health messaging into the matchday experience. We also announced the Suicide Prevention Support Pathfinders programme for middle-aged men. This program will invest up to £3.6 million over three years in areas of England where middle-aged men are at most risk of taking their own lives and will tackle the barriers that they face in seeking support. The 10-Year Health Plan sets out ambitious plans to boost mental health support across the country. This includes transforming mental health services into 24/7 neighbourhood mental health centres, improving assertive outreach and access to timely mental health care, expanding talking therapies, and giving patients better access to 24/7 support directly through the NHS App. These services are available to men struggling with their mental health.

What steps he is taking to provide 24/7 mental health support to prevent suicide.

The 10-Year Health Plan sets out ambitious plans to boost mental health support across the country. This includes transforming mental health services into 24/7 neighbourhood mental health centres, improving assertive outreach and access to timely mental health care, expanding talking therapies, and giving patients better access to 24/7 support directly through the NHS App. The Government has invested up to £120 million to increase the number of crisis assessment centres, which will provide reactive, short term intensive support for people in acute mental health crisis. To strengthen access to urgent mental health support, anyone in England experiencing a mental health crisis can now to speak to a trained NHS professional at any time of the day through a mental health option on NHS 111. This integrated service can give patients of all ages the chance to be listened to by a trained member of staff who can help direct them to the right place.

What steps his Department is taking to help improve support for families affected by suicide.

Evidence suggests that those who are bereaved by suicide may have a risk of dying by suicide up to three times higher than the general population. The Suicide Prevention Strategy for England identifies eight priority areas for targeted and tailored support, one of which is to provide compassionate, timely, and effective support for people bereaved by suicide. Our actions are to better understand the personal experiences of people bereaved by suicide including through learning from our voluntary, community, and social enterprise sector (VCSE) partners, to explore opportunities to improve access and support for those bereaved by suicide and to engage with new evidence around bereavement. Bereavement services and support should consider the needs of different groups and communities to ensure the widest range of people receive the support they need, wherever they live. The Government, local authorities, police, coroners, the National Health Service, schools and universities, and VCSE organisations all have an essential role in providing effective and timely bereavement support to.

What recent steps he has taken to help (a) tackle male suicide and (b) improve access to support for men struggling with their mental health.

The Suicide Prevention Strategy for England identifies middle aged men as a priority group for targeted and tailored support at a national level. There needs to be appropriate support and signposting for suicide prevention from services men commonly interact with, especially primary care, as well as Government agencies, and wider physical and mental health services. This can also include places where people may seek support for risk factors that have been linked to male suicide, including debt, and alcohol and drug misuse. On 19 November, to coincide with International Men’s Health Day, we published the Men’s Health Strategy. The strategy includes tangible actions to improve access to healthcare, provide the right support to enable men to make healthier choices, develop healthy living and working conditions, foster strong social, community, and family networks and address societal norms. It also considers how to prevent and tackle the biggest health problems affecting men of all ages, which include mental health and suicide, respiratory illness, prostate cancer, and heart disease. Through the Men’s Health Strategy, we are launching a groundbreaking partnership with the Premier League to tackle male suicide and improve mental health literacy, by embedding health messaging into the matchday experience. We also announced the Suicide Prevention Support Pathfinders programme for middle-aged men. This program will invest up to £3.6 million over three years in areas of England where middle-aged men are at most risk of taking their own lives and will tackle the barriers that they face in seeking support. The 10-Year Health Plan sets out ambitious plans to boost mental health support across the country. This includes transforming mental health services into 24/7 neighbourhood mental health centres, improving assertive outreach and access to timely mental health care, expanding talking therapies, and giving patients better access to 24/7 support directly through the NHS App. These services are available to men struggling with their mental health.

Pursuant to the Answer of 6 February 2026 to Question 103857, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of increasing the number of publicly-funded (a) medical and (b) dental training places.

The Government is committed to training the staff we need, including doctors and dentists, to ensure patients are cared for by the right professional, when and where they need it.The Government is committed to publishing a 10 Year Workforce Plan to set out action to create a workforce ready to deliver the transformed services set out in the 10-Year Health Plan.

What steps his Department is taking to improve research into (a) the causes of respiratory conditions and (b) the adoption of new medicines for respiratory conditions.

The Department is committed to ensuring that all patients, including those with respiratory conditions, have access to cutting-edge clinical research and innovative, lifesaving treatments. Between 2020/21 and 2025/26, the Department, through its research delivery arm the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), has allocated £7.4 million for research into the causes of respiratory conditions and £33.5 million for studies on the adoption of new medicines for these conditions. The NIHR accepts applications across all areas of human health, including respiratory diseases. Further information on the NIHR’s work on respiratory conditions can be found at the following link: https://www.nihr.ac.uk/support-and-services/support-for-delivering-research/specialties-and-settings/specialties#tab-respiratory

What steps he is taking to help ensure people with (a) disabilities and (b) additional needs receive (i) timely and (ii) effective medical attention.

We want disabled people’s access to, and experience of, healthcare services to be equitable, effective, and responsive to their needs. The 10-Year Health Plan specifically identifies disabled people as a priority group for the development of neighbourhood health care, offering more holistic ongoing support, and noting the health inequalities they face.Under the Equality Act (2010), health and social care organisations must make reasonable adjustments to ensure that disabled people are not disadvantaged. NHS England is rolling out a Reasonable Adjustment Digital Flag which enables the recording of key information about a disabled patient or client and the reasonable adjustments to care and treatment that they need, to ensure support can be tailored appropriately and equitably. Under a new information standard, published on 19 December 2025, all publicly funded health and social care service providers must be able to share, read, and write reasonable adjustment data by 30 September 2026.The NHS Medium-Term Planning Framework requires that from 2026/27 all integrated care boards and Community Health Services must actively manage and reduce the proportion of waits across all Community Health Services over 18 weeks and develop a plan to eliminate all 52-week waits. It also sets a new target to deliver all urgent general practice appointments on the same day.The Elective Recovery Plan sets out commitments to tackle disparities in access to and waiting times for elective care, and our Urgent and Emergency Care Plan for 2025/26 sets out clear actions to deliver improvements this winter and make services better every day.

What steps his Department is taking to ensure people with disabilities do not experience long wait times for medical appointments.

We want disabled people’s access to, and experience of, healthcare services to be equitable, effective, and responsive to their needs. The 10-Year Health Plan specifically identifies disabled people as a priority group for the development of neighbourhood health care, offering more holistic ongoing support, and noting the health inequalities they face.Under the Equality Act (2010), health and social care organisations must make reasonable adjustments to ensure that disabled people are not disadvantaged. NHS England is rolling out a Reasonable Adjustment Digital Flag which enables the recording of key information about a disabled patient or client and the reasonable adjustments to care and treatment that they need, to ensure support can be tailored appropriately and equitably. Under a new information standard, published on 19 December 2025, all publicly funded health and social care service providers must be able to share, read, and write reasonable adjustment data by 30 September 2026.The NHS Medium-Term Planning Framework requires that from 2026/27 all integrated care boards and Community Health Services must actively manage and reduce the proportion of waits across all Community Health Services over 18 weeks and develop a plan to eliminate all 52-week waits. It also sets a new target to deliver all urgent general practice appointments on the same day.The Elective Recovery Plan sets out commitments to tackle disparities in access to and waiting times for elective care, and our Urgent and Emergency Care Plan for 2025/26 sets out clear actions to deliver improvements this winter and make services better every day.

What steps his Department is taking to help improve the diagnosis of respiratory conditions.

The Government has committed to delivering three big shifts that our National Health Service needs to be fit for the future: from hospital to community; from analogue to digital; and from sickness to prevention. All of these are relevant to improving respiratory health in all parts of the country.Through our community diagnostic centres we are building capacity for respiratory testing and enabling people to get diagnosed closer to home. 101 community diagnostic centres across the country now offer out of hours services, 12 hours a day and seven days a week, meaning patients can access vital diagnostic tests around busy working lives.This is alongside action being taken to expand capacity and improve the quality of pulmonary rehabilitation services to support patients living with respiratory conditions. We are also taking action to reduce the causes of respiratory conditions, for instance by enabling a smoke free generation and cross Government action to improve air quality.

What steps he is taking to help tackle the increase in respiratory conditions.

The Government has committed to delivering three big shifts that our National Health Service needs to be fit for the future: from hospital to community; from analogue to digital; and from sickness to prevention. All of these are relevant to improving respiratory health in all parts of the country.Through our community diagnostic centres we are building capacity for respiratory testing and enabling people to get diagnosed closer to home. 101 community diagnostic centres across the country now offer out of hours services, 12 hours a day and seven days a week, meaning patients can access vital diagnostic tests around busy working lives.This is alongside action being taken to expand capacity and improve the quality of pulmonary rehabilitation services to support patients living with respiratory conditions. We are also taking action to reduce the causes of respiratory conditions, for instance by enabling a smoke free generation and cross Government action to improve air quality.

What steps his Department is taking to help prevent kidney disease.

The NHS England Renal Service Transformation Programme has been established to support the transformation of renal services across England to deliver better services and outcomes in relation to kidney disease. The programme recognises the importance of prevention and optimising screening, detection, and treatment. Regional renal clinical networks, with eight commissioned networks across England, have established workstreams, working with providers to develop transformation programmes to reduce the number of patients progressing through the stages of chronic kidney disease, supporting improved patient outcomes. NHS England has also established a renal Clinical Reference Group to help drive improvements in diagnosis and treatment for people living with kidney disease.

What steps he is taking to help reduce increases in the number of kidney disease cases.

The NHS England Renal Service Transformation Programme has been established to support the transformation of renal services across England to deliver better services and outcomes in relation to kidney disease. The programme recognises the importance of prevention and optimising screening, detection, and treatment. Regional renal clinical networks, with eight commissioned networks across England, have established workstreams, working with providers to develop transformation programmes to reduce the number of patients progressing through the stages of chronic kidney disease, supporting improved patient outcomes. NHS England has also established a renal Clinical Reference Group to help drive improvements in diagnosis and treatment for people living with kidney disease.

What steps he is taking to help tackle kidney disease.

The NHS England Renal Service Transformation Programme has been established to support the transformation of renal services across England to deliver better services and outcomes in relation to kidney disease. The programme recognises the importance of prevention and optimising screening, detection, and treatment. Regional renal clinical networks, with eight commissioned networks across England, have established workstreams, working with providers to develop transformation programmes to reduce the number of patients progressing through the stages of chronic kidney disease, supporting improved patient outcomes. NHS England has also established a renal Clinical Reference Group to help drive improvements in diagnosis and treatment for people living with kidney disease.

What steps his Department is taking to support the development and approval of personalised cancer vaccines.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has completed a public consultation on its draft guideline on individualised mRNA cancer immunotherapies, a new type of personalised cancer treatment. These technologies use cutting-edge science such as artificial intelligence to design a medicine tailored to each patient’s unique tumour profile. The MHRA’s public consultation on its draft guideline on individualised mRNA cancer immunotherapies is available at the following link:https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/draft-guidance-on-individualised-mrna-cancer-immunotherapiesThe MHRA received positive responses from across the life sciences community, the National Health Service, patient groups, academics, and international regulators. Feedback recognised the United Kingdom’s leadership in this area, while calling for greater clarity in some aspects of the guideline.In response, we will refine the guideline to ensure regulatory expectations are clearly articulated, without hampering innovation. This will facilitate faster access to these promising new therapies, while upholding our standards of safety, quality, and efficacy. The final version of the guideline will be published in the coming months, with future updates anticipated as regulatory experience evolves in this rapidly developing field.

If his Department will outline the nature of the joint process between NICE and MHRA referenced in 2026 National Cancer Plan.

The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is an executive agency of the Department and regulates medicine, medical devices, and blood components for transfusion in the United Kingdom, with responsibility for ensuring medicines meet appropriate standards of safety, quality, and efficacy.The joint process between the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and the MHRA, as mentioned in the National Cancer Plan for England, published in February 2026, refers to the commitments of the two organisations to align decision timeframes for new medicines and new indications, as outlined in the Government’s Regulatory Action plan, England’s 10-Year Health Plan, and the Life Sciences Sector Plan, in action 27, all published in 2025. The Life Sciences Sector Plan is available at the following link:https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/688c90a8e8ba9507fc1b090c/Life_Sciences_Sector_Plan.pdfThis joint information-sharing initiative aims to deliver both MHRA licensing decision and NICE guidance publication at the same time. It will mean more medicines receive approval for use on the National Health Service in England at the same time as they are authorised for use in the UK. This will ultimately benefit patients in the UK as it is anticipated that new medicines will reach UK patients three to six months faster as a result. This initiative was announced by the MHRA and NICE in August 2025, with further information available at the following link:https://www.gov.uk/government/news/patients-will-receive-medicines-3-6-months-faster-under-10-year-health-plan-as-regulators-set-out-plansAction 27 of the Life Sciences Sector Plan also introduces an integrated scientific advice service, launching in March 2026, where the two organisations will work together to provide medicines developers with advice to support this aligned approach.

What steps his Department is taking to help improve treatment pathways for patients with secondary breast cancer.

The National Cancer Plan, published 4 February 2026, has set out actions aimed at supporting people with secondary breast cancer.NHS England is piloting the use of self-referral breast cancer pathways to streamline diagnostic pathways and free up primary care capacity using the NHS App and NHS 111 online service. This is in addition to the Government’s commitment for NHS England to deliver 9.5 million additional tests by 2029 through a £2.3 billion investment in diagnostics, and to ensure that 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 National Health Service will harness 'circulating tumour DNA' tests for breast cancer which can pick up relapse months earlier, accelerating clinical decisions and allowing patients to start the most effective treatment faster. The National Cancer Plan has identified four priority areas to accelerate access to new technologies, which include artificial intelligence-assisted interpretation of pathology images for suspected prostate and breast cancer diagnosis.To improve outcomes for breast cancer patients, NHS England funds the National Audit of Breast Cancer Treatment, covering both primary and metastatic disease. By analysing routine clinical data from NHS settings, these audits identify regional variations in care quality and establish best practices. This will benefit all breast cancer patients, including secondary breast cancer patients.At the same time, the NHS is focusing on 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.The plan highlights the Government’s ambition to ensure that every person with secondary breast cancer has faster diagnosis and treatment, access to the latest treatments and technology, and high-quality support throughout their journey, while driving up cancer survival rates.

If he will outline a timeline he expects there to be standard treatment for recurrent glioblastoma available in the UK.

The Government recognises that there are currently limited treatment options available for people who have been diagnosed with cancerous brain tumours, such as glioblastoma, and recognises the significant impact that this rare cancer can have on patients, carers, and their families. In October 2025, a new nationwide trial was launched exploring whether surgery can improve the quality of life for patients when glioblastoma comes back after treatment commenced, backed by £1.98 million of National Institute of Health and Care Research (NIHR) funding. The Government published the National Cancer Plan for England on 4 February 2026, and it was the first ever cancer plan to include a chapter on rare and less common cancers. The plan sets out that we will aim to reduce the number of cancers diagnosed in emergency settings. To accelerate breakthroughs, the Government will explore innovative procurement methods, such as advance market commitments, to stimulate the development of new diagnostic tests, targeted therapies and more effective treatments for rare cancers, such as brain cancers.As a result of the significant new commitments to brain tumour research being announced, committed spend on brain tumour research from NIHR programmes alone is now in excess of £40 million since 2018. This is in addition to NIHR investments in infrastructure, which are estimated to be £44.5 million over the period 2018/19 to 2024/25, and UK Research and Innovation commitments of £46.8 million to brain tumour research over the six years from 2018/19 to 2023/24.

What steps his Department is taking to improve the diagnosis rate for secondary breast cancer.

The National Cancer Plan, published 4 February 2026, has set out actions aimed at supporting people with secondary breast cancer.NHS England is piloting the use of self-referral breast cancer pathways to streamline diagnostic pathways and free up primary care capacity using the NHS App and NHS 111 online service. This is in addition to the Government’s commitment for NHS England to deliver 9.5 million additional tests by 2029 through a £2.3 billion investment in diagnostics, and to ensure that 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 National Health Service will harness 'circulating tumour DNA' tests for breast cancer which can pick up relapse months earlier, accelerating clinical decisions and allowing patients to start the most effective treatment faster. The National Cancer Plan has identified four priority areas to accelerate access to new technologies, which include artificial intelligence-assisted interpretation of pathology images for suspected prostate and breast cancer diagnosis.To improve outcomes for breast cancer patients, NHS England funds the National Audit of Breast Cancer Treatment, covering both primary and metastatic disease. By analysing routine clinical data from NHS settings, these audits identify regional variations in care quality and establish best practices. This will benefit all breast cancer patients, including secondary breast cancer patients.At the same time, the NHS is focusing on 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.The plan highlights the Government’s ambition to ensure that every person with secondary breast cancer has faster diagnosis and treatment, access to the latest treatments and technology, and high-quality support throughout their journey, while driving up cancer survival rates.

Whether the commitment to explore novel procurement routes for diagnostics or treatments for rarer cancers contained in the 2026 National Cancer Plan includes assessing the suitability of the current approach to marketing authorisation in respect of treatments for rare and less common cancer.

Improving survival for rare cancer patients is a priority for the National Cancer Plan. The plan aims for England to climb into the top quartile in Europe for survival of multiple less common cancers by 2035.We will explore which innovative procurement mechanisms, including advanced market commitments or advanced purchase agreements, could stimulate innovation for rarer cancers.The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has completed a public consultation on its draft guideline on individualised mRNA cancer immunotherapies, a new type of personalised cancer treatment. These technologies use cutting-edge science such as artificial intelligence to design a medicine tailored to each patient’s unique tumour profile. The MHRA’s public consultation on its draft guideline on individualised mRNA cancer immunotherapies is available at the following link:https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/draft-guidance-on-individualised-mrna-cancer-immunotherapiesThe MHRA will refine the guideline to ensure regulatory expectations are clearly articulated, without hampering innovation. This will facilitate faster access to these promising new therapies, while upholding our standards of safety, quality, and efficacy. The final version of the guideline will be published in the coming months, with future updates anticipated as regulatory experience evolves in this rapidly developing field.To support measures that improve outcomes for rare cancer patients, the Government will implement the Rare Cancers Bill in full. The bill modernises how rare cancer drugs are approved, making sure our laws keep pace with other leading countries. It guarantees a new national specialty lead for rare cancers within the National Institute for Health and Care Research to drive research and leadership outcomes.

What steps he is taking to increase the number of clinical (a) radiologists and (b) oncologists in the East Midlands.

The newly published National Cancer Plan highlights how we will work with the royal colleges to encourage resident doctors and internal medicine trainees to specialise in clinical and medical oncology. In addition, we will rebalance cancer and diagnostic medical training places to remote, rural, and coastal areas and target grants to train cancer nurse specialists in high-need areas. We have more doctors and consultants working in clinical oncology than a year ago. This will benefit patients across the country, including in the East Midlands. The 10-Year Health Plan, published on 3 July 2025, set out that over the next three years we will create 1,000 new specialty training posts with a focus on specialties where there is the greatest need. The Government will set out its next steps on this in due course.