Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what proportion of eligible people in Yorkshire and the Humber have been screened through the national targeted lung cancer screening programme since July 2023; and what steps he is taking to increase the level of uptake for that scheme.

The NHS Lung Cancer Screening Programme is available in some areas of England and offers a lung cancer screen to those who are over 55 years old but younger than 75 years old; are registered with a general practitioner; and have a history of smoking.

NHS England has advised that to the end of August 2024, 36.3% of the eligible population in the Humber and North Yorkshire Cancer Alliance has been invited to the Lung Cancer Screening programme since 2019, with 16,103 people participating between July 2023 and July 2024. Estimated uptake for May to July 2024, the most recent available three months of data, was 55.4%. This has improved significantly with the rolling average for the last 12 months being 47.8%.

A wide range of initiatives continues to be carried out to improve uptake in the NHS Lung Cancer Screening Programme. For example, at a national level this includes using social media, leaflets and posters to promote the programme and at a local level, using text messaging to remind people of their appointment. Cancer Alliances are also bringing together primary care networks, lung cancer screening teams and communication colleagues to ensure collaborative and informed working is taking place.

The NHS Lung Cancer Screening Programme will be fully rolled out to 100% of the eligible population by 2029.