Damian Hinds

I thank and commend the hon. Member for Wokingham (Clive Jones) for bringing the Bill to the Floor of the House and for his powerful personal testimony. We have already heard, and I think we will hear more, personal testimonies from colleagues across the House. It was a particular privilege to be here for the speech of the hon. Member for Doncaster East and the Isle of Axholme (Lee Pitcher). About a month ago, the hon. Member for Wokingham and I were both at a breast cancer campaign event at which one of the themes was inequalities in breast cancer care, particularly among under-represented communities, secondary breast cancer patients and men. It was good to hear from him on that occasion. He draws on his experience to contribute effectively to raising awareness about breast cancer in men and—as he is doing today—all cancers and the issues around them. There were a number of important initiatives under the last Government, including the use of community diagnostic centres; the introduction of the lung health screening programme, which subsequently expanded to become the national lung cancer screening programme; the major clinical trial, initiated with Prostate Cancer UK, on testing screening approaches for detecting prostate cancer; and the launch in February 2024 of the children and young people’s cancer taskforce. As the hon. Member for Erewash (Adam Thompson) says, few things can unite this House as strongly as the fight against cancer. When the national cancer plan was published in February 2026, the Opposition welcomed its aims to improve survival and outcomes.