Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department has taken to improve attendance at cancer screening appointments.

There are currently three fully rolled out National Health Service cancer screening programmes: bowel; breast; and cervical. Lung cancer screening is also a formal programme, but is yet to be fully rolled out.

Bowel cancer screening has already introduced the faecal immunochemical test, which is an easier test to use and is done at home. Evidence shows more people from low participation groups such as men, people from ethnic minority backgrounds, and people in deprived areas have engaged with screening since its introduction.

For breast screening, NHS England has developed a national uptake improvement plan in collaboration with key stakeholders such as cancer alliances. This plan includes a full review of the breast screening pathway, scoping digital innovations to improve uptake, evidence gathering on barriers to attend screening, investment to promote text message reminder alerts, media campaigns, and improved inclusive information.

Uptake of cervical screening has been declining for the last decade. As well as local initiatives to improve uptake, such as out of hours appointments, the UK National Screening Committee is looking at the use of human papillomavirus self-sampling for non-attenders following publication of the YouScreen study in July 2024. In addition, an in-service evaluation is being commissioned by the National Institute for Health and Care research to determine whether self-sampling could be offered to everyone eligible for cervical screening.