Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps are being taken to ensure breast cancer screening is a prioritised by the NHS.

Following the Independent Breast Screening Review, the Government has committed to making sure that the breast screening offer to women is clear, reflected in public-facing materials, and implemented consistently across all breast screening services, including in the policy and related programme guidance and training.

The breast screening service specification 2019/20 will set out the national standards for every breast screening provider service for the whole of England. This service specification is based on recommendations from the UK National Screening Committee and reflect clinical advice from Public Health England. The standards are used in contracts that are held locally between NHS England regions and breast screening providers.

Further, NHS England asked Professor Sir Mike Richards to lead a review of the current screening programmes, including breast cancer screening. The review will provide recommendations to improve uptake of screening, improve delivery, learn lessons from recent screening incidents, and modernise and expand diagnostic capacity. This review will report shortly.