Asked by: Lorraine Beavers (Labour - Blackpool North and Fleetwood)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 12 February to Question 110590 on Breast Cancer: Screening, whether the National Inherited Cancer Predisposition Registry will include women assessed as being at moderate or high risk of breast cancer who do not have an identified genetic mutation.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Inherited Cancer Predisposition Registry already includes some women who do not have an identified genetic mutation. National cancer registration data collects high-quality data in the National Inherited Cancer Predisposition Registry on women at very high risk of breast cancer according to The Surveillance of women at very high risk of developing breast cancer guidelines, which are available at the following link:
As well as women at high risk of breast cancer who have an identified genetic mutation, the registry collects data on ‘risk-equivalent’ women who have a strong family history of breast cancer, but who have not undertaken a definitive genetic test and therefore do not have an identified genetic mutation. Their eligibility criteria can be found at the following link:
Women from the breast cancer after radiotherapy dataset, or BARD, are also included. These women have received radiotherapy to the chest area involving breast tissue for the treatment of lymphoma between the ages of 10 and 35 years old. They are identified by linking national cancer registration data to the national Radiotherapy Dataset within National Disease Registration Service, as both are nationally mandated datasets.
Asked by: Lorraine Beavers (Labour - Blackpool North and Fleetwood)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of integrating all at risk screening for breast cancer into the National NHS Breast Screening Programme.
Answered by Ashley Dalton
The new and world-leading NHS National Inherited Cancer Predisposition Registry (NICPR), part of the National Disease Registration Service, will help the National Health Service to deliver proactive, targeted prevention, surveillance, and earlier diagnosis for people and their families. Women at Very High Risk (VHR) of breast cancer are now identified within the NICPR and referred into the NHS Breast Screening Programme (NHSBSP), which has enabled reconciliation to ensure that all identified women are safely referred into the programme. This is a step towards a fully electronic referral VHR process into the NHSBSP.
The Government is advised on all screening matters by the UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC), an independent scientific advisory committee which is made up of leading medical and screening experts. Where the UK NSC is confident that offering screening provides more good than harm, they recommend a screening programme.
In 2022 the remit of the UK NSC was expanded to include targeted, and risk stratified screening, in addition to population screening. So far, the UK NSC has not made a recommendation for targeted screening of women at a moderate or high risk of breast cancer.
Currently, if women reach the criteria for moderate or high- risk screening with surveillance recommended, this is offered as part of screening provision managed locally with NHS trusts.
Asked by: Lorraine Beavers (Labour - Blackpool North and Fleetwood)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the extent of regional inequities in the provision of early access programmes for (a) innovative treatments and (b) people living with SOD1 motor neurone disease.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Company-led early access programmes (EAPs) are not endorsed by the Department or NHS England and no assessment has been made of whether there are regional inequities in the provision of early access programmes for innovative treatments and people living with SOD1 motor neurone disease.
Participation in company-led schemes is decided at an individual NHS trust level. Under these programmes, the cost of the drug is free to both patients taking part in it, and to the National Health Service, but NHS trusts must still cover administration costs and provide clinical resources to deliver the EAP.
NHS England has published guidance for integrated care systems (ICS) on free of charge medicines schemes, providing advice on potential financial, resourcing, and clinical risks. ICSs should use the guidance to help determine whether to implement any free of charge scheme including assessing suitability and any risks in the short, medium, and long term. The guidance is available at the following link: