Prostate Cancer: Screening

(asked on 23rd March 2026) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what funding is currently available to Integrated Care Boards to deliver community‑level engagement programmes aimed at increasing awareness and early detection of prostate cancer in high‑risk groups.


Answered by
Sharon Hodgson Portrait
Sharon Hodgson
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
This question was answered on 31st March 2026

While the Department does not ring-fence integrated care board (ICB) funding exclusively for prostate cancer public awareness campaigns, community-level engagement programmes aimed at increasing awareness and early detection are supported via broader communication programmes, working in partnership with charities and local Cancer Alliances.

To increase knowledge of cancer symptoms, and to address barriers to acting on them, the National Health Service has run Help Us Help You campaigns. These campaigns focused on recognising a range of symptoms, as well as encouraging body awareness, to help people spot symptoms across a wide range of cancers, including prostate cancer, at an earlier stage. NHS England and other NHS organisations, nationally and locally, publish information on the signs and symptoms of many different types of cancer, including prostate cancer. This information can be found at sources including the NHS website, which is available at the following link:

https://www.nhs.uk/

The National Cancer Plan, published in February 2026, is backed by significant funding committed by the Government at the Spending Review, including £200 million next year for local Cancer Alliances. Alliances are encouraged to allocate a proportion of this funding to the delivery of local early diagnosis plans, to drive progress on data-led priorities. This can include work to support the diagnosis of prostate cancer, but it will vary by alliance depending on local need. In 2025/26, several alliances have undertaken work to support awareness and earlier diagnosis of prostate cancer.

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