Current status: Answered by Neil Gray on 22 December 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what progress has been made towards ensuring that the experiences of children and young people under the age of 16 with cancer are captured, for example through the implementation of a dedicated under-16 Scottish Cancer Patient Experience Survey.
Understanding the unique support needs of children and young people with cancer is a priority for both the Scottish Government and the Managed Clinical Network for Children and Young People with Cancer (MCN CYPC), who are responsible for the implementation of the Collaborative and Compassionate Cancer Care: cancer strategy for children and young people 2021–2026.
The number of children and young people diagnosed with cancer in Scotland is small compared to other cancers. Due to small patient numbers it is challenging to produce detailed, anonymised data.
To protect confidentiality, cancer groups with fewer than 50 responses cannot be analysed, as this helps minimise the risk of individuals being identifiable within the dataset.
The MCN CYPC have a number of support programmes including the National Youth Advisory Forum and Buddy Support Network, which enable young people to share experiences, identify gaps, and help improve service quality through feedback.