Education is a devolved matter, and the response outlines the information for England only.

It is important to educate people about the causes and symptoms of cancer and the department is supportive of efforts to do this at an early age.

The revised relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) statutory guidance was published on 15 July. Cancer awareness and other specific cancer-related content is included. At secondary school, as part of the ‘Health protection and prevention, and understanding the healthcare system’ topic, pupils are taught the importance of taking responsibility for their own health and the benefits of regular self-examination and screening.

Schools may also teach about cancer awareness in other areas of the national curriculum. For example, the secondary science curriculum ensures pupils are taught about non-communicable diseases, such as cancer, and the impact of lifestyle factors on the incidence of these diseases. Furthermore, in design and food technology, schools highlight the importance of nutrition and a healthy diet.

Policy for cancer care is a devolved matter in Scotland, and is therefore the responsibility of the Scottish administration.

The Department is committed to getting the National Health Service diagnosing cancer earlier in England so that more patients survive, including young people. To achieve this, the NHS in England has delivered an extra 40,000 operations, scans, and appointments each week as the first step to ensuring early diagnosis and faster treatment.

To support timely and effective referrals, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has set out detailed guidance for general practitioners in England on the symptoms of cancer in children and young people aged zero to 24 years old, which recommends referral within 48 hours for those presenting with a range of potential cancer symptoms. Since its relaunch on 4 February 2025, the Children and Young People Cancer Taskforce for England has worked to identify tangible ways to improve outcomes and experiences for children and young people aged zero to 24 years old with cancer in England. The taskforce is exploring opportunities for improvement across genomic testing and treatment, research and innovation, patient experience, and early detection and diagnosis. Although the taskforce is England-only, and no formal discussions have taken place with Scotland or other countries, once the taskforce finalises its work, any recommendations for cross-border collaboration will be considered where appropriate.

The forthcoming National Cancer Plan for England will include further details on improving outcomes for cancer patients, including young people with cancer, and will highlight how the Department will support the NHS to improve diagnosis rates for people in all parts of England.

The National Disease Registration Service in NHS England, as the national cancer registry, collects and analyses diagnosis and treatment data on cancer patients in England. Using the Rapid Cancer Registration Data set, there were 1,929 diagnoses of testicular cancer, code ICD10 C62*, between March 2024 and February 2025, the latest available data. Further information on the Rapid Cancer Registration Data set is available at the following link:

https://digital.nhs.uk/ndrs/data/data-sets/rcrd

The latest complete year of cancer registration data is 2018. The number of testicular cancers diagnosed in 2018 was 2,076. The 2018 cancer registration statistics are available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/cancer-registration-statistics-england-2018

The following table shows the number of males diagnosed with testicular cancer in England from 2013 to 2017:

Age-adjusted rates within the G20 for testicular cancer vary from 0.6 to 10.1 per 100,000 over the last five years. The United Kingdom value is 7.1 per 100,000. There are differences in data recording across the world which will at least partly account for the range of values seen.

The estimated incidence of testicular cancer in the G20 group in 2018 is published by the International Agency for Research on Cancer Global Cancer Observatory project. This can be viewed at the following link:

http://gco.iarc.fr/

Data for the European Union, based on the EU 28 countries, is available at the European Cancer Information System at the following link:

https://ecis.jrc.ec.europa.eu/

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

Public Health England’s ‘Be Clear on Cancer’ campaigns do not currently include testicular cancer, so no assessment has been made of the potential impact of a campaign on the issue.

The decision on which cancers should be the focus of ‘Be Clear on Cancer’ campaigns is informed by a steering group, whose members include primary and secondary care clinicians, and key voluntary sector organisations. A number of factors are taken into account when deciding which campaigns to develop and run, with one of the main criteria being the scope to save lives through earlier diagnosis and whether the cancer has a clear early sign or symptom that the general public can act upon should it arise.

According to the Office for National Statistics, for men diagnosed with testicular cancer between 2009 and 2013 the one year survival estimate was 98.3% and the five year survival estimate was 97.0%, the highest survival rates for any type of cancer.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has issued guidance on the organisation of healthcare for people with a urological cancer, including testicular cancer - Improving outcomes in urological cancers (NICE guidelines CSG2, September 2002). The guidance recommends which healthcare professionals should be involved in treatment and care, and the types of hospital or cancer centre that are best suited to provide that healthcare. The guidance can be found at this link:

https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/csg2

Improving the early diagnosis of cancer is a priority for this Government, and was highlighted as a strategic priority in the report Achieving World-Class Cancer Outcomes published in July 2015 by the independent Cancer Taskforce. In order to continue to support general practitioners (GPs) to identify patients whose symptoms may indicate cancer and urgently refer them as appropriate, NICE published an updated suspected cancer referral guideline in June 2015, which encourages GPs to think of cancer sooner and lowers the threshold for referral. The guideline can be found at this link:

https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng12

The health website NHS Choices includes information about the symptoms of testicular cancer and encourages men to be aware of what feels normal for them and to seek help from their GP if they notice any changes. This information can be found at this link:

www.nhs.uk/conditions/Cancer-of-the-testicle/Pages/Introduction.aspx

According to the Office for National Statistics, for men diagnosed with testicular cancer between 2009 and 2013 the one year survival estimate was 98.3% and the five year survival estimate was 97.0%, the highest survival rates for any type of cancer.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has issued guidance on the organisation of healthcare for people with a urological cancer, including testicular cancer - Improving outcomes in urological cancers (NICE guidelines CSG2, September 2002). The guidance recommends which healthcare professionals should be involved in treatment and care, and the types of hospital or cancer centre that are best suited to provide that healthcare. The guidance can be found at this link:

https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/csg2

Improving the early diagnosis of cancer is a priority for this Government, and was highlighted as a strategic priority in the report Achieving World-Class Cancer Outcomes published in July 2015 by the independent Cancer Taskforce. In order to continue to support general practitioners (GPs) to identify patients whose symptoms may indicate cancer and urgently refer them as appropriate, NICE published an updated suspected cancer referral guideline in June 2015, which encourages GPs to think of cancer sooner and lowers the threshold for referral. The guideline can be found at this link:

https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng12

The health website NHS Choices includes information about the symptoms of testicular cancer and encourages men to be aware of what feels normal for them and to seek help from their GP if they notice any changes. This information can be found at this link:

www.nhs.uk/conditions/Cancer-of-the-testicle/Pages/Introduction.aspx

The UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) last reviewed the policy on testicular cancer in 2006 and recommended against a screening programme as this condition was more commonly detected through self-examination and that a systematic population screening programme would not be beneficial.

The UK NSC advises Ministers and the National Health Service in all four countries about all aspects of screening policy and supports implementation. Using research evidence, pilot programmes and economic evaluation, it assesses the evidence for programmes against a set of internationally recognised criteria.

‘Improving Outcomes: A Strategy for Cancer’ set out a commitment to work with charities that represent patients with less common cancers, such as those affecting children and young people, to assess what more can be done to encourage awareness, appropriate referrals to secondary care and to diagnose such cancers earlier. During 2011, departmental officials met with 18 charities to hear their concerns on these issues, including two charities representing children and young people with cancer. The outcome of these discussions have been fed into the National Awareness and Early Diagnosis Initiative and is informing activity in this area.

Regarding awareness of testicular cancer, we would encourage men to be aware of any unusual changes and consult doctors early in order to ensure the maximum chance of a cure. The Department collaborated with

Cancer Research UK in the production of a testicular self-awareness leaflet, ‘Detecting Testicular Cancer: Spot The Symptoms Early’.

The Department has undertaken no other awareness activity among young people in relation to other the two male cancers. Both prostate and penile cancer primarily affect older men and the latter is also very rare.

The Department for Education (DFE) is responsible for matters concerning health educations and awareness in schools. The current personal, social, health and economic (PSHE) education non-statutory framework includes the importance of healthy lifestyles. It provides opportunities for pupils to discuss health issues that teachers identify as being relevant to them, which could include cancer awareness and health advocacy. Many schools also use external organisations to provide young people with information about cancer including how to seek professional advice.

The DFE is currently reviewing PSHE education to identify the core body of knowledge that pupils need and to determine how it can support schools to improve the quality of all PSHE teaching. It will publish the outcome of the review later in the year.