Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential implications for its policies of recommendation on (a) screening and (b) research on prostate cancer in Council of the EU recommendation on cancer screening (update), adopted in December 2022.

The United Kingdom is not bound by the Council of the European Union's recommendations. The UK National Screening Committee is currently looking at the evidence for prostate cancer screening in accordance with its published processes. This work will evaluate the feasibility and effectiveness of the implementation of organised prostate cancer screening programmes. It therefore aligns with the Council of the European Union's recommendations.