Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of introducing self-sampling for cervical screening as an alternative to clinic-based cervical screening.

Following the announcement to introduce human papilloma virus (HPV) self-sampling in the National Health Service cervical screening programme for the under-screened population, the NHS has begun planning an in-service evaluation (ISE) of HPV self-sampling in the wider population.

The purpose of the ISE is to ensure the self-sampling test is as accurate at detecting HPV compared with a clinician-collected specimen, and to evaluate its impact on cervical screening uptake. The findings of the ISE will inform any future recommendation from the UK National Screening Committee to Ministers to offer self-sampling across the whole population.