To ask the Minister of Health to detail any steps he is taking to reduce cancer inequalities, in light of the Cancer Research UK February 2025 report entitled UK Cancer Mortality by Deprivation that found cancer death rates are around 45 per cent higher for people living in the most deprived areas of Northern Ireland compared to the least deprived with around 630 extra cancer deaths in Northern Ireland each year linked to socioeconomic inequality.

I welcome the findings in the Cancer Research UK (CRUK) report entitled Cancer in the UK 2025: Socioeconomic deprivation. These findings reinforce my commitment to tackle health inequalities.

The report, quite rightly, identifies a number of factors such as increased obesity and smoking incidence, lower participation in screening programmes, and reduced awareness of the signs and symptoms of cancer as the leading cause of increased incidence and mortality and poorer outcomes for cancer patients.

Officials in my Department are working across departmental boundaries and with local government and community and voluntary sector partners to ensure that those in the most deprived communities can access health and social care services effectively. This approach is a key step to reducing health inequalities and improving overall the health and wellbeing of people across these deprived communities.

My Department’s “Making Life Better” strategy provides an overarching strategic framework for public health through which the Northern Ireland Executive committed to creating the conditions for individuals, families and communities to take greater control over their lives and be enabled to lead healthy lives.

In addition, the Northern Ireland Cancer Strategy that launched in March 2022 has a range of strategic themes and high-level actions that will deal with cancer inequalities through service transformation and service optimisation to ensure that there is both equity of access to cancer services and improved patient outcomes.