Cancer Plan (Hansard, 22 May 2002)

§ Dr. Murrison
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the opportunity costs of the Cancer Plan. [45774]

§ Yvette Cooper
Cancer is a central priority for the national health service and one in three people in England will develop cancer at some stage in their lives. The NHS Cancer Plan was published in September 2000 and is the first comprehensive national cancer programme.
Improvements to cancer services in line with the implementation of the Cancer Plan will benefit diagnostic, treatment and care services across the NHS and as such will benefit not only cancer patients but also a high proportion of other NHS patients as well.

§ Dr. Evan Harris
To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much of the allocation in the NHS Cancer Plan for palliative care has been spent on hospices for(a) children and (b) adults in 2000–02; how much expenditure is planned for 2002–03, and if he will make a statement. [55402]

§ Yvette Cooper
In the NHS Cancer Plan, we pledged that the national health service contribution to the costs of specialist palliative care for adults (including hospices) would increase. By 2004 the NHS will invest an additional £50 million available for specialist palliative care. This investment is intended to help tackle inequalities in access to specialist palliative care and enable the NHS to increase their contribution to the cost hospices incur in providing agreed level of services. At a local level this investment must be based on the agreed strategic plans for palliative care provision within each cancer network's service delivery plan.
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Funding to support this investment is included within the sums made available for cancer in NHS allocations each year.
Outturn information is not yet available for 2000–02. Palliative care will be included as actual expenditure on palliative care within plans for use of the £76 million of earmarked funding for cancer in 2000–03.
In addition to the extra investment identified in the Cancer Plan, the New Opportunities Fund has recently announced a further £70 million to support palliative care projects, £22 million for adults and £48 million for children.