Ms Debbie Abrahams expressed condolences to the hon. Lady for her mother's passing, mentioning a constituent named Jo Taylor who has an advanced breast cancer diagnosis. She advocated for counting secondary breast cancer cases accurately as currently only estimates are available.

Concerned about the worst recorded level of waiting times for cancer, Ms Clark highlighted a shortage of key equipment and staff vacancies due to austerity measures. She noted that only 79% of people saw a specialist within two weeks after an urgent suspected cancer referral in January 2023, missing the NHS England target of 93%. This represents around 520 additional patients who could have been diagnosed or ruled out on time if the target was met. She also pointed to a lack of workforce plan from the Government and called for transparency in projected staffing numbers.

The Chair offered personal condolences and thanked Nicola Richards for touching on the matter, acknowledging the importance of mothers in people's lives.

Mr Jim Shannon commended the hon. Lady for securing this debate and highlighted that four in 10 cancers across the UK are preventable, advocating for a national smoke-free target to stop smoking among young people and encourage research.

Mr Dowd highlighted the crisis in cancer care, citing figures showing that nearly half of all cancer patients missed life-saving treatment targets in January 2023. He also pointed out a shortfall of clinical radiology consultants and oncologists, with demand for services expected to increase significantly by 2035. He mentioned an email received yesterday about a campaign, indicating that over half the heads of radiotherapy departments had warned that radiotherapy was at crisis point. He asked if the Minister would try to chase up their correspondence with the Health Secretary.

Tim Farron highlighted the unacceptable waiting times for cancer treatment in his constituency, with 27% of people not being seen within two months of diagnosis. He pointed out that delays in radiotherapy lead to a 10% reduction in life expectancy every four weeks. Farron stressed the need for increased investment in radiotherapy, noting the UK's lower-than-average rate of patients receiving it compared to other countries. He called on the Government to allocate £1 billion from its unexpected windfall of around £30 billion to improve radiotherapy infrastructure and reduce waiting times. Mr Farron briefly intervened to ask for a chance to speak, but no further content was provided in the transcript.