Andrew Gwynne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2016-03-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment his Department has made of the (a) causes of the disparity in cancer survival rates between England and Wales and (b) extent to which such disparities are due to access and availability of medicines.

Jane Ellison

No such assessments have been made.

We are advised by the Office for National Statistics that, although a Welsh government report published positive cancer survival data on 3 February 2016, this did not compare survival rates with the other UK countries. Such data is not readily comparable due to differences in methods and time periods.