Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to improve cervical screening coverage.

NHS England is working with primary care support providers to develop a new cervical screening call and recall system. We expect the new cervical screening call and recall system to be introduced by April 2019. In addition, NHS England is working closely with Public Health England to align implementation plans for human papillomavirus (HPV) primary screening. We expect HPV screening to be rolled out from April 2019.

NHS England closely monitors the coverage rates for cervical screening in all age groups and is committed to improving coverage. Local NHS England commissioners analyse coverage rates within their area and work with healthcare professionals to improve coverage. This includes sharing and implementing best practice such as cervical screening guides for general practitioner practices or targeting practices with low coverage rates. At a national level NHS England is working with Public Health England to make evidence based improvements such as improving invitation letters to patients to encourage more to attend their cervical screening appointment.

NHS England is working in partnership with Cancer Research UK and Macmillan Cancer Support on the ACE (Accelerate, Coordinate, Evaluate) Programme aiming to generate knowledge about effective approaches to achieve earlier diagnosis. A number of ACE test sites are evaluating approaches to increase screening rates in a range of groups, including black and ethnic minority women, women with learning disabilities and women from disadvantaged backgrounds.