Government confirms plan to scrap two-week cancer wait targets in England – UK politics live | Politics

A-level grades awarded to students in England have shown their biggest ever drop after results plummeted across the board in line with the government’s policy of enforcing a return to pre-pandemic era grading.

Five thousand fewer students in England gained three A* grades than in 2022, while the proportion of top A*-A grades shrank from 35.9% to 26.5% in the space of a year.

For the first time, more than one in 10 entries in England were awarded an E or U (unclassified), a 10% increase compared with pre-pandemic results in 2019. The increase is likely to be the result of more students taking A-levels based on their GCSE results awarded by teacher assessment when exams were cancelled in 2021.

England’s results also showed a yawning gap in top grades compared with Wales and Northern Ireland, where regulators have taken into account the long-term impact of the Covid pandemic through more generous grading.

Northern Ireland awarded A*-A grades to 37.5% of its A-level entries, while Wales awarded 34% – in stark contrast to the 26.5% awarded in England.

You can read more of Richard Adams and Michael Goodier’s report here: A-level results in England show biggest drop on record

And Alexandra Topping has our live coverage here:

Helena Horton, our environment report, has this today:

New offshore windfarms will be strangled by government red tape, costing UK billpayers £1.5bn a year, an analysis has found.

The latest government auction for new offshore windfarms, due to be completed in September, could result in few projects making it through Treasury rules, according to the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU), a non-profit organisation.

Rules set by the Treasury do not take account of predictions that the gas price will stay high and put an arbitrary limit on the number of farms that can be contracted. They mean that the budget set in the government’s contracts for difference auction is unlikely to be spent, because many windfarms will not get through the auction, so bills will be kept higher.

Despite the fact that the government recently increased the budget for the auction from £170m to £190m, analysts at the ECIU said this was likely to make little difference to the outcome of the auction and ignored the fact that renewables were predicted to save customers money.

Read more of Helena Horton’s report here: UK windfarm red tape to cost billpayers £1.5bn a year, say analysts

There was some consternation in the comments yesterday at any passing mention of the football, which is going to make it awkward to do the front pages today, with an awful lot of papers featuring the Lionesses upfront and centre.

The Guardian led with the prime minister promising to protect the pensions triple lock, which could see a massive benefits rise given how high inflation is running.

For the Times, it was Sunak’s promises to make tackling inflation his number one priority. Prices are still rising by 6.8% annually, well above the Bank of England target of 2%, but the numbers have started heading in Sunak’s direction.

The Telegraph goes with a heist – no not the Lionesses against Nigeria earlier in the competition – but at the British Museum.

The Daily Mail also has the British Museum story.

Everybody else is pretty much football, football, football, so I’ll spare you the images and direct you here instead if that is your thing …

Health minister Will Quince has claimed that the government is scrapping the two-week cancer target in NHS England after clinical consultations.

PA Media report he said “the biggest factor in people surviving cancer is the stage at which they are diagnosed. We have listened to the advice from clinical experts and NHS England to reform cancer standards which will speed up diagnosis for patients.”

Prof Sir Stephen Powis, national NHS medical director, said: “The NHS is already catching more cancers at an earlier stage, when they are easier to treat, than ever before and the Faster Diagnosis Standard will allow us to build on this excellent progress.

“The updated ambitions will mean the NHS can be even more focused on outcomes for patients, rather than just appointment times, and it’s yet another of example of the NHS bringing cancer care into the modern era of care.”

However, oncologist Prof Pat Price, co-founder of the #CatchUpWithCancer campaign and chairwoman of charity Radiotherapy UK, said that, while “simplification is welcome”, targets should be higher.

“The Faster Diagnosis Standard is set at only 75%. This needs to be much higher, at around 95%, if we are to get patients through the cancer pathway on time,” she said.

“While great for reassuring patients without cancer, this may not help patients with cancer start their treatment in time.”

The government has confirmed that seven NHS England cancer targets are to be scrapped, as the service moves to having three performance standards from October. The new guidelines will move away from what the government termed the “outdated” two-week wait target.

Currently that two-week wait target is not being met. PA Media note that data published a week ago by NHS England revealed that 261,006 urgent cancer referrals were made by GPs in June, up 6% on 245,595 in May and 13% year on year from 231,868 in June 2022.

Of the 261,006 patients, 80.5% saw a specialist within two weeks, down from 80.8% in May but below the target of 93%, which was last met in May 2020.

Ten current targets will be consolidated into the following:

– The 28-day Faster Diagnosis Standard, under which patients with suspected cancer urgently referred by a GP, screening programme or other route should be diagnosed or have cancer ruled out within four weeks.

– The 62-day referral to treatment to ensure patients who have been referred and diagnosed with cancer should start treatment within that timeframe.

– The 31-day decision to treat – patients with a cancer diagnosis, and who have had a decision made on their first or subsequent treatment, should start it within 31 days.

Good morning, and welcome to Thursday’s politics live blog. Here are your headlines.

• The government has confirmed that seven NHS England cancer targets are to be scrapped, as the service moves to having three performance standards from October. The new guidelines will move away from what the government termed the “outdated” two-week wait target.

• Covid vaccines should be made available for people to buy privately in Britain, leading scientists have urged, amid concerns over a new wave of the virus which could worsen in autumn and winter. Unlike flu jabs, which individuals or employers can buy for about £15 from high street pharmacies, Covid jabs are only available on the NHS in the UK.

• A cross-party group of MPs and peers has urged the children’s minister to demand better data on the use of restraints on young people in care with an aim of ending the “brutal handcuffing of vulnerable children”.

• War on motorists (by other motorists): A new survey claims that nearly three out of five drivers (58%) want to see cameras that detect illegally loud vehicles rolled out across the UK.

• New offshore windfarms will be strangled by government red tape, costing UK billpayers £1.5bn a year, an analysis has found.

• Forty people, including an Olympic gold medallist and a former police officer, are calling on the solicitor general to charge them with contempt of court if he prosecutes a social worker for holding up a placard outside a climate trial.

The big diary event of the day is that A-level grades are out for pupils in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. My colleague Alexandra Topping has got that covered over here:

I’m Martin Belam, and I will be with you today. You can reach me at [email protected].