Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to then Answer of 30 January 2024 to Question 11063 on Cancer and Public Health, whether the Minister of State for Health and Secondary Care participates in NHS Public Health Functions Agreement accountability meetings.

NHS England is currently held to account for the delivery of National Health Service public health functions through Director General-led accountability meetings, supplemented with an annual ministerial accountability meeting.

The annual ministerial NHS public health functions accountability meeting with NHS England is chaired by the minister with responsibility for public health. Other Department ministers with responsibility for relevant programmes are invited to attend, or to feed views into the discussion via the lead minister.

As the Minister of State for Health and Secondary Care, I now have responsibility for screening, and engage with the national screening programme performance outside these meetings.