Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, which health body will be responsible for making the final decision on the sensitivity threshold for the faecal immunochemical test when it is introduced into the bowel cancer screening programme due to be implemented in April 2018.

It is expected that the faecal immunochemical test (FIT) will be implemented during 2018/19 as the primary screen test for the bowel cancer screening programme.

The Department has asked NHS England to lead the implementation of FIT and work through the practical steps to enable them to commission the new service from National Health Service providers. This will include: the sensitivity threshold at which FIT will be set; and consequent planning for colonoscopy and pathology workforce capacity; the distribution of the test kits; laboratory set up; new information technology links with the FIT analysing machines; staff training and public information. NHS England will undertake this with expert advice, practical support, standard setting and quality assurance from Public Health England.

As these practical steps are put into place, a more specific date in 2018 will be confirmed for the introduction of FIT as the primary screen test for the bowel cancer screening programme.