Cancer Action Plan: annual progress report 2024-2025

2. Monitoring and Evaluation

2.1. The Cancer Strategy (2023-2033) and Cancer Action Plan (2023-2026) Monitoring and Evaluation Framework, published in August 2023, has two main purposes: accountability and learning. It sets out how we will assess progress towards the strategic ambitions, including priorities for evaluation and using data to track the progress of change.

2.2. This second annual action plan report (within the 2023-2026 period) acts as a midpoint for reflection. We report here on the progress of actions relating and contributing to the strategic ambitions. It forms an essential part of our overall monitoring and evaluation and informs next steps.

2.3. Section 3 of the report provides an update on progress that has been monitored for individual actions and programmes, while the section on Evidence and Evaluation summarises and synthesises key insights and learning from published analysis and evaluation evidence.

2.4. Tackling health inequalities is a cross-cutting ambition for all policy actions. Progress on this is therefore reported as part of the sections on the other ten ambitions in the strategy. It does not have a standalone section.

2.5. Bespoke projects, which build evidence in support of actions to tackle health inequalities, began gathering evidence in 2024. An evidence review on racialised health inequalities as they relate to cancer is due to be published in Autumn 2025. In addition, work is underway in six case study sites across Scotland to evaluate how treatment is accessed and experienced by people living in areas of deprivation and by those living in remote areas of Scotland. The evaluation will report in 2026. Findings from these projects will inform the second Cancer Action Plan.

2.6. The Monitoring and Evaluation Framework referenced an Advisory Group of experts who supported its development. This group continues to support our approach to monitoring and evaluation.

2.7. The Monitoring and Evaluation Framework included a set of Headline Indicators. These metrics were developed to enable measurement of progress towards the intended high-level outcomes and vision for the ten-year Cancer Strategy. Some are indicators in development. The framework committed to reviewing these indicators annually, and an update for each indicator is provided. It is important to highlight that, after only two years, it is too early for any impact of the strategy to be reflected in most of these longer-term indicators.