Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to reduce the prevalence of skin cancer; and what guidance he has issued on the safe use of sunbeds.

Our ambition is for England to become one of the most successful countries in Europe at preventing premature deaths from cancer.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence published guidance on skin cancer prevention in January 2011, which has been partially updated by guidance on ‘Sun Exposure: benefits and risks’ which was published in February 2016. The guideline is for commissioners, managers and practitioners with public health or social care as part of their remit working within the National Health Service, local authorities and the wider public, private, voluntary and community sectors.

In June 2014, Public Health England (PHE) in conjunction with the Department and NHS England ran a local Be Clear on Cancer campaign in the South West of England to raise awareness of skin cancer including information on how to reduce the risks of getting skin cancer. Campaign information is available at:

https://www.nhs.uk/be-clear-on-cancer/symptoms/skin-cancer

An interim evaluation report for the campaign was published in February 2016 and we will continue to work with PHE to assess how we take this work forward.

PHE provides information to increase awareness of the public health risks of excessive exposure to ultraviolet radiation from the sun, and to encourage people at home and abroad (Mediterranean countries) to protect themselves as necessary which is available at:

https://uk-air.defra.gov.uk/data/uv-index-graphs

The NHS Choices website also provides sun safety information and advice to the public, which can be found at:

www.nhs.uk/Livewell/skin/Pages/Sunsafe.aspx

Finally, the Sunbeds Regulation Act 2010 came into force in April 2011 in England and Wales to prohibit under-18s from using sunbeds. Local authorities are responsible for enforcing this and the Department has published guidance to support them. PHE is looking into non-regulatory methods of discouraging sunbed use, such as targeted risk communication methodologies.