Derek Twigg

Information on accident and emergency performance is published monthly by NHS England. The headline metric used is the four-hour accident and emergency waiting time standard. This data is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/ae-waiting-times-and-activity/

Provisional data is published on median average waiting times in emergency departments by National Health Service provider. This data is available at the following link:

https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/provisional-accident-and-emergency-quality-indicators-for-england

The mean average waiting time from referral to the first outpatient appointment for patients under vascular services at the Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust is 78 days. For the Warrington and Halton Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, a breakdown of the data on vascular services is not currently held by the Department.

The Elective Reform Plan outlines our commitments on reforming outpatient care to reduce waiting times for first and subsequent appointments. These include improving the NHS App and the Manage Your Referral Website to give patients more control over their outpatient care, increasing Advice and Guidance to ensure that patient care takes place in the right setting, and reducing missed appointments and less clinically valuable follow ups. These reforms will help to free up clinicians’ time and reduce waiting times for those patients who most need care, including first appointments and clinically necessary follow ups. Outpatient transformation will help fulfil the Government’s commitment that 92% of patients return to waiting no longer than 18 weeks from Referral to Treatment by March 2029, a standard which has not been met consistently since September 2015.

A table showing the information requested is attached.

Responsibility for purchasing radiotherapy treatment machines sits with local systems. The Government committed £70 million for new machines in last year’s Budget, to ensure that the most advanced treatment is available to patients who need it.

We do not collect data on the number of people treated for lung cancer by constituency. However, we do have the total number of people being treated for lung cancer across trusts throughout the country. The number of people who received either a first or subsequent treatment for lung cancer in September 2024 was 4,676.

The Department invests £1.5 billion per year in health research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), and NIHR research expenditure for all cancers was £121.8 million in 2022/23. Cancer is a major area of NIHR spend, reflecting its high priority.

For research specifically on child brain tumours, the NIHR has made three direct awards since 2015 with a total value of approximately £650,000. The following table shows the NIHR’s committed spend on research into child brain tumours in each year since 2015/16, and the total award budget:

Between 2018/19 and 2022/23, the NIHR directly invested £11.3 million in research projects and programmes focused on brain tumors across 15 awards. Additionally, wider NIHR investment in research infrastructure, supporting the facilities, services, and the research workforce, supported the delivery of 227 brain cancer research studies over this period, enabling an estimated 8,500 people to participate in research at estimated cost of £31.5 million. This NIHR infrastructure-supported research included a significant number of studies involving children and young people, including those delivered by NIHR Great Ormond Street Biomedical Research Centre.

In September 2024, the NIHR announced new research funding opportunities for brain cancer research, spanning both adult and paediatric populations. This includes a national NIHR Brain Tumour Research Consortium, to ensure the most promising research opportunities are made available to adult and child patients, and a new funding call to generate high quality evidence in brain tumour care, support, and rehabilitation. Further information on these opportunities is available at the following link:

https://www.nihr.ac.uk/news/new-funding-opportunities-novel-brain-tumour-research-launched

The NIHR continues to encourage and welcome applications for research into any aspect of human health, including childhood cancer. Applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards made on the basis of the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money, and scientific quality.

In 2022, with Departmental support, the Army adopted a position not to release the workforce requirement of its internal organisations following the announcement of the Integrated Review and Future Soldier transformation.

I am happy to speak to my hon. Friend about this further.

The number of chefs in post for the Army since 2010 are as follows:

*The figure for each year was extrapolated from the number in post on 01 April for each respective year

We do not routinely release the workforce requirement figures of Army regiments or specialist professions as doing so is likely to prejudice the capability, effectiveness or security of the Armed Forces.

I hope that my Rt Hon friend will understand that I am withholding the information as its disclosure would, or would be likely to prejudice the capability, effectiveness or security of the Armed Forces.

Whilst a statistical release of overall Armed Forces strength is published annually, strength and capability statistics for certain specialisations are not released.

Releasing the current strength and requirement of medical service personnel could be exploited by our adversaries to target, disrupt and degrade an important element of Armed Forces capability.

The number of veterinary officers in post for the Army since 2010 are as follows.

*The figure for each year was extrapolated from the number in post on 01 April for each respective year

We do not routinely release the workforce requirement figures of Army regiments or specialist professions as doing so is likely to prejudice the capability, effectiveness or security of the Armed Forces.

The number of Logistics (Air Ground Stewards) in the Royal Air Force in each year since 2010 is as follows:

Data is unable to be broken down by Air Steward and Ground Steward specialisation.

I am withholding the information requested for the workforce requirement as its disclosure would, or would be likely to prejudice the capability, effectiveness or security of the Armed Forces.

The below table highlights the Royal Navy’s budget for training between financial years (FY) 202018-19 and 2023-24. This includes Phase 1 (basic training) and Phase 2 (initial training) costs. In accordance with standard financial practice in all public and private organisations, it is not possible to provide figures for the entire period requested.

The below table provides the Royal Air Force budget for training between financial years (FY)2018-19 and 2023-24. This includes Phase 1 (basic training) and Phase 2 (initial training) costs. It is not possible to provide figures for the entire period requested.

The Department has interpreted training to mean the budget for direct training exercises only. This includes Phase 1 (basic training) and Phase 2 (initial training) costs.

The below table highlights the Army’s budget for training between financial years (FY)2018-19 and 2023-24. As a result of changes in accounting practices, it is not possible to provide figures for the entire period requested.

I am withholding the information as its disclosure would, or would be likely to prejudice the capability, effectiveness or security of the Armed Forces.

Whilst a statistical release of overall Armed Forces strength is published annually, strength and capability statistics for certain specialisations are not released.

Releasing the current strength and requirement of medical service personnel, or indeed other specialised professions, could be exploited by our adversaries to target, disrupt and degrade an important element of Armed Forces capability.

As of 1 April 2024, there were 26,030 Army Trade Trained Regular, Gurkha and Trained Reserve Engineers.

We do not routinely release the workforce requirement figures of Army regiments for reasons of operational security.

The Trade Trained Regular Army only exclude Gurkhas, Full Time Reserve Service, Mobilised Reserves, Army Reserve and all other Reserves, but includes those personnel that have transferred from Gurkha Trained Army Personnel (GURTAP) to UK Trained Army Personnel (UKTAP).

Reserve figures are for Trained Army Group A Reservists for Army. Group A includes Volunteer Reserves, Mobilised Volunteer Reserves, High Readiness Reserves and University Officer Training Course (OTC) Support & training staff.

The 'Engineering' trades listed above are defined in line with the agreed definition from the Defence Engineer Remuneration Review (DERR).

The Army invests significantly in skills, education and training for its people to build the problem-solving attributes, teamwork, resilience, intellect and creativity needed to be successful now and in the future.

A comprehensive professional pipeline trains soldiers and officers from the basics of being a soldier, through progressive levels of trade training, as well as the leadership skills required at all ranks. More broadly, Defence continues to invest in collective training capabilities for its Armed Forces and, under the Future Soldier programme, the Army is modernising collective training to better prepare for the challenges personnel will face in modern warfare.

We do not centrally hold the information in the format that has been requested due to the broad range and scope of training that can be undertaken by all Army personnel, including both individual and collective training.

The table below presents the number of UK Armed Forces personnel who have had at least one appointment at Primary Care Rehabilitation Facilities (PCRF), Regional Rehabilitation Units (RRU) and/or Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre (DMRC) in each year since 2015, broken down by service.

The table below presents the total spent on rehabilitation at Regional Rehabilitation Units (RRUs), Defence Primary Health Care Rehab Headquarters and the Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre (DMRC) from the start of 2015 to 8 January 2025.The figures below do not include costs for Primary Care Rehab Facilities (PCRFs). PCRFs provide primary rehabilitation for Service Personnel who do not require referral into an RRU. PCRFs costs are embedded within Medical Centres and the costs cannot be extracted.

As rehabilitation is delivered in a tri-service environment, it is not possible to break this data down by Service.

This information is not held in the format requested.

I am withholding the information as its disclosure would, or would be likely to prejudice the capability, effectiveness or security of the Armed Forces.