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 help increase the screening rates for prostate cancer in men aged over 50; and if he will take steps to increase the level of funding available to help screen more men over 50 for prostate cancer.

Screening for prostate cancer is currently not recommended by the UK National Screening Committees (UK NSC) due to the inaccuracy of the current best test called the Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA). A PSA-based screening programme could harm some men as many would be diagnosed with a cancer that would not have caused them problems during their life. This would lead to additional tests and treatments which can also have harmful side effects, for example, sexual dysfunction and incontinence.

That is why no steps have been taken to increase the screening rates and funding for prostate cancer screening for men over 50. However, the Government have invested £16 million into a trial seeking to find better methods of detecting prostate cancer.