Following years of tireless campaigning by Stubbington resident Charlotte Fairall and Dame Caroline Dinenage, today’s publication of the Government’s National Cancer Plan marks a significant milestone in the fight against children and young people’s cancer.

 The Children and Young People Cancer Taskforce, Chaired by Caroline since February 2024, has contributed a chapter on children and young people’s cancer to a plan that the Government says will:

“improve outcomes for patients with cancer, as well as speeding up diagnosis and treatment, ensuring patients have access to the latest treatments and technology, and ultimately driving up this country’s cancer survival rates.”

The groundbreaking Department of Health and Social Care’s Children and Young People Cancer Taskforce was the result of 3 years of tireless campaigning by Dame Caroline and her constituent Charlotte Fairall, the founder of children’s cancer charity, Sophie’s Legacy.

In September 2020, Charlotte’s daughter Sophie was diagnosed with Rhabdomyosarcoma and tragically passed away a year later, aged just 10 years old.

Charlotte met with Caroline ten days after Sophie‘s death, and together they held meetings with experts on a range of subjects from genomics to paediatric oncology, to gather information about the issues and the solutions. In January 2022 Caroline raised the matter in Prime Minister’s Questions and in April 2022 she secured the first ever childhood cancer debate in the House of Commons. She met with Health Ministers and Secretaries of State to push for action on children’s cancer over a two-year period.

Finally the Taskforce was established by the Conservative Government in February 2024, but its work was paused following the 2024 General Election.

In February 2025 the Department of Health and Social Care confirmed that the Children and Young People Cancer Taskforce would resume its vital work to shift the dial on diagnosing and treating childhood cancer. Caroline and Professor Darren Hargrave were appointed as its co-chairs, alongside Dr Sharna Shanmugavadivel as vice-chair.

Since then the Taskforce has made recommendations to the Government for inclusion in the National Cancer Plan alongside stakeholders like medical experts, policymakers, and charities. Those recommendations include:

• A Travel Fund providing up to £10m annually for CYP cancer travel costs.
• Access to high-quality hospital food for children and young people at times when it is needed.
• Improvements to the experience of those children who have to stay in hospital through the NHS and Starlight’s Play Well toolkit.
• Raised awareness of cancer symptoms among patients, families, and healthcare professionals through existing awareness campaigns and materials such as Child Cancer Smart.
• Provision of high-quality psychological care and support during diagnosis, treatment and beyond.

Childhood cancer is still the leading cause of illness-related death in under-14s in the UK and over 4,000 people aged under 25 are diagnosed with cancer in the UK every year. Despite this, on average, only 2 pence out of every £1 spent each year on cancer research goes towards dedicated research projects to find new ways of diagnosing and treating children’s cancers.

Charlotte Fairall, campaigner and founder of charity Sophie’s Legacy, said: “The 10‑Year Cancer Plan is an important step forward for children and young people with cancer. Through Sophie’s Legacy, we’ve pushed hard to make sure their needs are finally recognised. Sophie’s story and the work of so many families and clinicians has helped drive this plan, and we now need to ensure it delivers real change.”

Caroline said:  

“It has been an enormous privilege to learn, work and battle alongside Charlotte over the last 4 years.

“Our chapter of the National Cancer Plan is testament to her courage and her determination that Sophie’s death should be a catalyst to meaningfully change the way we detect, treat, and care for other children and young people with cancer.”