Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of providing annual ECGs to young people on the number of victims of sudden cardiac death; and if he will hold discussions with his Italian counterpart on lessons that could be learned from that country.

The UK National Screening Committee reviewed screening young people for sudden cardiac death in 2019. They found there was insufficient evidence to support the introduction of whole population screening in the United Kingdom. However, this issue is kept under review.

The review found that there continued to be uncertainty regarding the number of people affected, that there is not a good predictive test, and that there is no agreement about who to treat and how people should be treated. There are currently no plans to talk with the Italian Minister of Health on the matter of sudden cardiac death.