Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he is taking steps to (a) raise awareness of and (b) help increase stem cell donation.

The Department’s Stem Cell Programme is providing £2.4 million of funding for the period 2022 to 2025. The programme is being delivered by NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT), and Anthony Nolan. It aims to enhance the resilience of the United Kingdom’s stem cell supply by strategically recruiting donors, particularly those most likely to donate, and to address health disparities through targeted campaigns, with a focus on ethnic minority communities. By increasing the pool of potential donors, the programme seeks to improve the availability of matches in the UK, ultimately reducing waiting times for patients in need of stem cell treatment.

The UK aligned registry has over 2 million potential stem cell donors registered. NHSBT and Anthony Nolan are raising awareness of the importance of stem cell donation and increasing the number of donors on the register through a range of methods including partnering with community organisations, working with volunteer student groups, and engaging with active blood, plasma, and platelet donors.