This short paper summarises some of my research data on national cancer control programmes. It focuses on the case of England, which I compare with France in my ongoing doctoral dissertation. The theoretical period of observation stretches back to the early 1970s, but my main angle of analysis concentrates on a particular policy initiative, the NHS Cancer Plan, published in September 2000 by the Department of Health, and its most recent sequel, the Cancer Reform Strategy, announced in 2006 and finalised as a policy document in 2007. My research questions pertain to the emergence of cancer on the political agenda, the methodology of health planning, and the relationship between cancer care reform and health care reform.