Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he plans to take to (a) increase breast cancer screening rates to pre-covid-19 levels and (b) meet his Department's breast cancer screening targets.

Following COVID-19, a national restoration plan was implemented by NHS England in 2020/21 with targeted support to all breast screening services, to clear the backlog by the summer of 2023. In 2021/22 and 2022/23, activity was higher than in the previous 10 years with more women invited for breast screening compared to pre-pandemic years.

NHS England’s national uptake improvement plan aims to address the fact that despite this action, some women are still not coming forward for breast screening. The plan includes active follow up of women who have missed appointments or who have not engaged with screening, a review to establish reasons for non-attendance to identify and address any barriers, and a look at how different invitation methods may impact on uptake, for instance factors such as age, screening history, and deprivation.