Dame Deborah James

That this House congratulates Dame Deborah James on her richly deserved Damehood; recognises her phenomenal fundraising efforts through the BowelBabe Fund for Cancer Research UK; thanks her, Lauren Mahon, the late Rachael Bland and Steve Bland for raising awareness and talking openly about cancer in the podcast You, Me & the Big C; regrets that nearly 43,000 new bowel cancer cases are diagnosed each year and that Bowel Cancer is the fourth most common cancer in the UK; calls on the Government to keep to its commitment of extending the age of NHS Bowel cancer screening to those over 50 across the whole country; appeals for the Government to increase endoscopy capacity to improve earlier and faster diagnosis; acknowledges more needs to be done to raise awareness of the symptoms of bowel and other cancers in younger people by supporting campaigns such as Bowel Cancer UK’s Never Too Young campaign championed by Dame Deborah; and seeks long term funding for clinical trials and research into personalised medicine that could result in new treatments for cancer patients.