Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the development of national linkable datasets for screening programmes will enable uptake data to be reported by (a) ethnicity and (b) level of deprivation.

Our NHS Screening Programmes can save lives and reduce ill health by finding out if people have a higher chance of having a health problem, so that early treatment can be offered, or information can be given to help them make informed decisions.

NHS England is currently leading an ambitious transformation programme in screening, building new digital services for the National Health Service, by the NHS, designed to improve staff and participant experience. This work includes activity designed to improve the consistent capture and reporting of data on screening uptake by ethnicity and deprivation level.