Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of people being able to self-refer for a smear test in a local sexual health clinic.
The United Kingdom National Screening Committee has made no assessment of the evidence to offer self-referral as part of the National Health Service cervical screening programme. The programme is working with contraception and sexual health clinics to support women who attend for their routine cervical screening, which is offered by some local authorities.