Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to increase early screening for cancer diagnosis.

NHS England is responsible for commissioning cancer screening services to meet programme standards including coverage. NHS England is working with providers to help identify and address any issues and is committed to improving coverage and reducing mortality from cancer. Each cancer screening specification requires providers to work with local authorities and other stakeholders to address inequalities in uptake.

In May 2018 Public Health England (PHE) published a PHE Screening inequalities strategy: ‘Supporting the health system to reduce inequalities in screening’, available to view at the following link:

https://phescreening.blog.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/152/2018/03/Supporting-the-health-system-to-reduce-inequalities-in-screening.pdf

PHE is also commissioning a systematic review of the evidence. This will expand and update on the rapid review of interventions to improve participation in cancer screening services. The work will provide a clear picture of what does and does not work to increase participation among vulnerable groups and groups with protected characteristics.