Alison McGovern

As the hon. Lady says, recruitment is very important—I am sure that the Minister with responsibility for the plan will look at that issue. Our commitment to publishing an annual report on progress against the national cancer plan is intended to deliver these insights into where the plan is off track, and to spur action to address any problems. The hon. Member for Wokingham has recognised that commitment, but I understand that he is worried that a future Government might choose to stop these annual reports. Even if today’s Bill is passed, a future Government, if they were intent on ceasing annual reports, could undo what the hon. Gentleman’s Bill seeks to do with a simple vote, just as commitments made in legislation on child poverty were undone. However, we have listened carefully to the wider point that the hon. Gentleman is making about accountability. Following the views of the National Cancer Board, we are strengthening our approach further. We have taken on board suggestions from Macmillan and Cancer52 that the annual national cancer plan progress report should not simply be published, but laid before Parliament and accompanied by an oral statement from the Secretary of State. We will make that further commitment, which I hope reassures the hon. Gentleman that we share his determination to ensure that Parliament can scrutinise our progress and hold us to account. The national cancer plan was written by a collective of people who care about this issue, and it takes action across the whole pathway. We are supporting the NHS to transform diagnostic services with £1.65 billion-worth of spending, including through new surgical hubs and state-of-the-art diagnostic scanners. Just last week, we announced that a world-leading new cancer blood test trial is being launched across at least 200 GP practices in England. We have invested £70 million into new cutting-edge radiotherapy machines, and exciting progress has been made on research with the cancer vaccines launchpad, which has now been expanded to support eight clinical trials. If I may test your patience, Madam Deputy Speaker, I also congratulate the world-leading research that is done at the Clatterbridge cancer centre in Liverpool, which is very close to my heart. We are also delivering commitments to improve quality and consistency of care. The Royal College of Physicians and Macmillan Cancer Support have recently published what is called a clinical consensus statement on acute and supportive oncology, establishing a common framework for service development. We are developing a new generation of cancer manuals and treatment. I could go on, but I just want to mention that, for children and young people with cancer, the Government are committing up £10 million a year to a new fund to help with the cost of travelling to and from principal treatment centres, for reasons that will be obvious to Members. We are giving rarer cancers the dedicated attention and leadership that they deserve. We have appointed Dr Robert Metcalf as the national clinical lead for rare cancers, giving patients a powerful voice and clinical leadership. This work also includes renewing our focus on brain cancer. Last month, my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister and the Health Secretary met Archie Goodburn to discuss new action that we are taking on brain cancer. We will appoint a new national brain tumour clinical lead in the coming months. This subject is of great importance to us all, and I therefore thank the hon. Member for Wokingham for bringing his Bill forward, and for the very constructive way in which he and his colleagues have approached the matter. I hope he can see that he has impacted the decisions that the Government have made. It is not the Government’s view that we need further legislation, but it is our view that we must work collectively to do much better with independent checks to improve treatment outcomes and to help people live better with cancer.