Lee Pitcher

The NHS Lung Cancer Screening Programme is offered to people between the ages of 55 and 74 years old who are current smokers or have previously been smokers. This is in line with the recommendation made by the UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) in 2022.

The UK NSC recognised that there are other causes of lung cancer such as air pollution and occupational exposure to inhaled carcinogens but as 72% of lung cancer is largely attributable to age and smoking status, the benefits of screening would have the most impact in this cohort of people.

When appraising the viability of a targeted screening the UK NSC takes into consideration the feasibility of identifying the cohort of people eligible for targeted screening. This would be necessary if the NHS Lung Cancer Screening Programme were to be extended to these groups.

The UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC), welcomes any new published peer reviewed evidence which suggests the case for a new or modified screening programme via its annual call, of which details are available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-nsc-annual-call-submitting-a-screening-proposal/uk-nsc-annual-call-how-to-submit-a-proposal

The Department continues to engage with suppliers of Creon and other pancreatic enzyme replacement therapies (PERT) to boost production to mitigate the supply issue. The supplier of Creon expects to receive increased quantities for 2025. Suppliers of alternative PERT and specialist importers of unlicensed medicines continue to supply increased volumes to assist in covering the gap in the market. The Department has issued management advice to healthcare professionals which directs clinicians to unlicensed imports when licensed stock is unavailable, and which includes actions for integrated care boards to ensure local mitigation plans are implemented. The Department, in collaboration with NHS England, has created a webpage to include the latest update on PERT availability and easily accessible prescribing advice for clinicians.

On 6 and 16 January, the Home Secretary announced to Parliament a raft of measures to go further in tackling child sexual abuse and exploitation, including 'grooming gangs' offending.

The Home Secretary has written to the National Police Chiefs' Council requesting officers look again at these unsolved and closed grooming gangs cases, backed by £2.5m in funding for stronger investigations The remit of the Independent Child Sexual Abuse Review Panel has also been extended so that it covers not just historic cases before 2013 but all cases since to ensure victims of abuse have the right to an independent review

This includes appointing Baroness Louise Casey to oversee an audit to improve our understanding of the scale, nature and drivers of group-based child sexual exploitation and abuse at a national and local level, and to make recommendations on what additional action is needed to improve our response.

We will provide stronger support for local areas which are interested in undertaking work to better understand and tackle local grooming gang issues and improve their own local responses going forward.

We will also be working across Government to set out a clear timeline for taking forward the 20 recommendations from the final report of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse by Easter.