Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to reduce incidences of bowel cancer.

The bowel scope screening (BSS) test is offered to men and women around the time of their 55th birthday to help prevent bowel cancer. It does this by finding and removing any small growths, called polyps, in the bowel that could eventually develop into cancer. Evidence has shown that men and women aged 55-64 attending a one-off BSS test for bowel cancer can reduce their individual mortality from the disease by 43% and reduce their individual incidence of bowel cancer by 33% (23% on a whole population basis).

Being overweight is the biggest single preventable cause of cancer after smoking and causes 13 types of cancer. This includes two of the most common cancers - bowel and breast - and two of the hardest to treat - pancreatic and oesophageal. The Government’s childhood obesity plan, launched in 2016, is a long term plan that focuses on the actions that are likely to have the biggest impact on tackling obesity and reduce the incidence of cancers and other associated diseases.