Below is a letter addressed to the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care in the United Kingdom, Yvette Cooper, on behalf of 64 charities, speaking with One Cancer Voice, urging support for Clive Jones MP’s Cancer (Reporting and Strategy) Bill. The Bill provides a clear means for reporting progress and maintaining focus on delivery of The National Cancer Plan. Hope for Tomorrow is proud to be one of the 64 cancer charities supporting this Bill and calling for the improvement of cancer outcomes for the millions of people affected by it.
27 October 2026
The Rt Hon Yvette Cooper MP
Secretary of State for Health & Social Care
Department of Health & Social Care
39 Victoria Street
London
SW1H 0EU
dhsc.sofs@dhsc.gov.uk
Dear Secretary of State,
One Cancer Voice support for the Cancer (Reporting and Strategy) Bill
We are writing as a coalition of cancer charities, to urge you to support Clive Jones MP’s Cancer (Reporting and Strategy) Bill, which is scheduled for Second Reading in the House of Commons on 13 November.
The Government’s National Cancer Plan for England offers a truly ambitious vision for transforming the lives of millions of patients and families across the country. This Bill will help turn your ambitions into action, by putting cancer patients at its heart. It will champion a new era for reporting and accountability, ensuring that government action delivers tangible improvements for people affected by cancer.
The Bill would require the Secretary of State to report annually to Parliament on performance against specified measures relating to cancer prevention, diagnosis, patient experience and treatment, and on ensuring research and innovations deliver better outcomes for patients. It would also require the Government to commit to publishing future cancer strategies.
The Bill strongly supports and reinforces the ambitions set out in the Government’s National Cancer Plan for England. In particular, it aligns with Action 14, which recognises that “greater transparency will drive improvement”, and Action 21, which commits the National Cancer Board to publishing annual reports on progress and undertaking an in-depth three-year review.
Crucially, the Bill would place these welcome reporting commitments on a statutory footing, ensuring that progress against the National Cancer Plan is reported annually to Parliament. This is important because many of the commitments in the Plan are long term, for example those relating to research and innovation. In doing so, it would therefore ensure that not only this Government, but future governments, remain accountable for delivering improvements in cancer outcomes and maintaining a long-term strategic focus on cancer.
Annual reporting and parliamentary scrutiny would strengthen transparency and accountability, support continuous improvement across cancer services, including patients’ experience of care, and help sustain cross-party commitment to improving outcomes for people affected by cancer.
The Bill is practical, proportionate and uncontroversial. It creates no new rights or entitlements but instead provides a clear means for reporting progress and maintaining focus on delivery. As such, it represents an invaluable opportunity to underpin the ambitions of the National Cancer Plan and demonstrate a long-term commitment to improving outcomes for cancer patients.
We therefore hope that you will support the Bill and, in doing so, send a clear message to the millions of people affected by cancer that improving cancer outcomes remains a national priority.
Yours sincerely,
One Cancer Voice signatories
One Cancer Voice signatories
1. Rose Woodward, Founder & Patient Advocate, Action Kidney Cancer
2. Jeannie Rigby, Chief Executive, Action on Bladder Cancer UK
3. Helen Morement, DSc (hc), Chief Executive, AMMF – The Cholangiocarcinoma Charity
4. Henry Braund MBE, CEO, Anthony Nolan
5. Dr Sophie Castell and Ropinder Gill, Co-Chairs, Blood Cancer Alliance
6. Helen Rowntree, CEO, Blood Cancer UK
7. Zoe Davison, Director of Research and Information & Deputy CEO, Bone Cancer Research Trust
8. Jodie Moffat, Director of Charitable Impact, Bowel Cancer UK
9. Dr Helen Bulbeck, Director of Services & Policy, brainstrust – the brain cancer people
10. Dan Knowles, CEO, Brain Tumour Research
11. Claire Rowney, CEO, Breast Cancer Now
12. Thalie Martini, Chief Executive, Breast Cancer UK
13. Robin Pritchard, Co-Director, Cancer Care Map
14. Michelle Mitchell OBE, Chief Executive Officer, Cancer Research UK
15. Chris Walden, CEO, Cancer52
16. Jill Clark, Chair, CancerWatch
17. Ashley Ball-Gamble, Chief Executive, CCLG: The Children & Young People’s Cancer Association
18. Natalie Haskell, CEO, CoppaFeel!
19. Dr Charlotte Badescu, Trustee, Dianne Oxberry Trust
20. Julie Dodds, Senior Director, Patient & Research Programmes, Follicular Lymphoma Foundation
21. Tina Seymour, Chief Executive, Hope for Tomorrow
22. Alison Railton, Director Policy & Public Affairs, Kidney Research UK
23. Anna Jewell, Chair, Less Survivable Cancers Taskforce
24. Fiona Hazell, Chief Executive, Leukaemia UK
25. Pamela Healy, Chief Executive, Liver Cancer UK
26. Claire Turner, CEO, Lobular Breast Cancer UK
27. Ropinder Gill, Chief Executive, Lymphoma Action
28. Steven McIntosh, Chief Partnerships Officer, Macmillan Cancer Support
29. Laura Lee CBE, Chief Executive, Maggie’s
30. Samantha Dixon, Chief Executive Officer, Make 2nds Count
31. Susanna Daniels, Chief Executive Officer, Melanoma Focus
32. Rachel Wallace, Chief Executive, Melanoma UK
33. Liz Darlison MBE DL, Founder & CEO, Mesothelioma UK
34. Laura Ashurst, Chair, METUPUK
35. Dr Sophie Castell, CEO, Myeloma UK
36. Zara Aitchinson, Chair of Board of Trustees, Neuroblastoma UK
37. Nikie Jervis, Director of Support Services & Policy Lead, Neuroendocrine Cancer UK
38. Cara Newton, Director of Brand and Income, North West Cancer Research
39. Julie Child, Executive Director, Oracle Head and Neck Cancer UK
40. Stewart O’Callaghan, CEO, OUTpatients
41. Victoria Clare, CEO, Ovacome
42. Cary Wakefield, CEO, Ovarian Cancer Action
43. Paula Hanford, CEO, Pancreatic Cancer Action
44. Diana Jupp, Chief Executive Officer, Pancreatic Cancer UK
45. Nikki Barraclough, Chief Executive, Prevent Breast Cancer
46. Oliver Kemp MBE, CEO of Prostate Cancer Research
47. Laura Kerby, CEO, Prostate Cancer UK
48. Sarah Quinlan MBE, Director, Radiotherapy UK
49. Paula Chadwick, Chief Executive, Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation
50. Richard Davidson, CEO, Sarcoma UK
51. Rhiannon Finnie, External Communications and Advocacy Lead, Shine Cancer Support
52. Gail Jackson, Chief Executive, Solving Kids’ Cancer UK
53. Sarah Gray, Director, Tackle Prostate Cancer
54. Catherine Hart, CEO, Target Ovarian Cancer
55. Jules Worrall, CEO, Teenage Cancer Trust
56. Dr Michele Afif, CEO, The Brain Tumour Charity
57. Athena Lamnisos, CEO, The Eve Appeal
58. Dr Stephen Harden, President, The Royal College of Radiologists
59. Rebecca Porta, Chief Executive, The Urology Foundation
60. Rachael Hutson, CEO, World Cancer Research Fund International
61. Kat Tucker, Deputy CEO, WMUK
62. Dr Kathryn Scott, Chief Executive, Yorkshire Cancer Research
63. Rachel Kirby-Rider, CEO, Young Lives vs Cancer
64. Barbara Fountain, CEO & Founder, Young Tongues
