First Special Report - Cancer Services: Government Response to the Committee’s Twelfth Report of 2021-22

This is the government's response, published 13 June 2022.

Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.

The government's response sets out work under way on early diagnosis, screening, diagnostics and treatment, says it is "premature to suggest that progress is off track" on the 75% early diagnosis ambition, and points to the forthcoming 10 Year Cancer Plan on several recommendations.

• On the 75% early diagnosis ambition by 2028, the government says it is "premature to suggest that progress is off track", noting that the full impact of its interventions was "always going to come through in the later years".
• On diagnostic capacity, it states that £2.3 billion is being invested to "roll out up to 160 community diagnostic centres (CDCs) by March 2025", modelled to provide an additional 200 MRIs, just under 300 CTs and around 160 endoscopy rooms.
• On the diagnostic workforce, it refers to the forthcoming 10 Year Cancer Plan and says the Department has commissioned NHS England to develop a workforce strategy, whose conclusions it "will set out ... in due course".
• On radiotherapy, it says there is "no clear case for expanding the radiotherapy equipment fleet in England", and that a review of radiotherapy payment arrangements is "expected to be in place from April 2023".

Read the government's response ↗ Report an error