Downing Street has issued a warning to NHS trusts in response to findings that more money needs to be spent on cancer treatment.

The report, published by the Science and Technology Committee on Wednesday, concludes that detailed research expenditure figures should be released to reassure MPs that the £190 million allocated by the government is spent on cancer research alone.

"If there are lessons to be learnt, they will be learnt," warned Number 10. "It is obviously a matter for authorities to decide what their priorities are but equally when the money was allotted it was made clear that the money was being given to improve cancer treatment."

The official spokesman defended the government's record by pointing out that spending on cancer treatment had increased since 1997 and there were more cancer specialists working in the NHS as a result of the increase in cash.

A national cancer act should be reconsidered by the government to establish a national cancer strategy and to improve its funding, the MPs said.

"Whatever the exact level of government and charitable funding of cancer research, and irrespective of which is the greater, it is clear that the government is still far from spending as much as is needed," it says.

The department of health suffers particular criticism in the report, for being unable to provide information on the number of NHS staff specialising in cancer treatment and research, and for the delay in setting up the Patients Information Advisory group and in introducing draft legislation for cancer registration.

The General Medical Council's guidance on confidentiality is attacked by the committee for hampering such efforts in registration, and in data collection for medical research.

Access to drugs for patients is still considered to be a problem, while there is an insufficient number admitted for clinical trials, the report claims.

Chairman of the committee and Labour MP for Norwich North Dr Ian Gibson, said that government funding of cancer research, "still has a way to go".

"We have been disappointed by the difficulty we faced in obtaining figures and information from the Department of Health. We hope that the government is not befuddling the public with its announcements on spending totals - when we looked behind the totals given we found some of the explanations laughable. By its own estimate, state funding is still £10 million a year behind the minimum £200 million the Committee recommended in 2000," he said.

"Cancer registration in the UK is in a perilous state. Regulations under the Health and Social Care Act, promised by the end of February, are yet to be laid before Parliament. We are deeply concerned that this period, without clear guidelines for those seeking to proceed with the vital task of cancer registration, will do irrevocable harm to medical research in the UK."

Shadow health secretary Dr Liam Fox described the government's cancer policy as being in "complete disarray and utterly discredited."

"Waiting times for treatment have increased so much that patients who were curable at the time of diagnosis are incurable by the time they can begin treatment. Now we also know that, despite all the Government's spin and hype about spending on cancer, the Government has done absolutely nothing to ensure that the money gets to the front line," he said.

"This sorry picture is entirely indicative of a Government that cares more about how things appear than how they are."

Sandra Gidley, Liberal Democrat health spokesman said: "If the Government is serious about delivering on its pledges then it must take steps to make sure that extra funding goes to where it was intended. The Government still has much to do if it is to lift Britain away from the bottom of the Cancer survival league table."

A spokesman for Cancer Research UK told ePolitix: "The experience of doctors and nurses in Cancer Research UK-funded units is that initial funds for cancer services are not benefiting patients yet, but this is because trusts are hard pressed. We are calling on the government to ensure that trusts are well funded to allow the money through."