Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what consideration he has made of research published by Cardiac Risk in the Young on the importance of cardiac screening in young people.

Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Government is guided by the independent scientific advice of the UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC). The UK NSC makes its recommendations based on internationally recognised criteria and a rigorous evidence review and consultation process. Where the committee is confident that offering screening provides more good than harm, they recommend a screening programme.

The UK NSC will open a public consultation to seek comments from members of the public and stakeholders on screening for the conditions associated with sudden cardiac death this spring.

While the committee is aware of the research recently published by Cardiac Risk in the Young, any evidence published in February 2026 will not be included in the current UK NSC consultation document, as the literature review commissioned by the committee must be completed and analysed before a consultation is published. However, the public consultation provides an opportunity for members of the public and stakeholders to draw the committee’s attention to any relevant questions or evidence that may not have been captured by the review, and which could inform its recommendation.