Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress he has made in delivering the NHS Digital Transformation of Screening programme.

The Digital Transformation of Screening programme is leading an ambitious, end-to-end transformation of screening services, rolling out in a test and learn way. New digital services will support screening participants to manage their screening appointments via the National Health Service App as well as delivering new, AI-ready services for staff, freeing up their time to focus on care.

Digital invitations along with some results and other routine communications, via the NHS App, have already been rolled out in cervical screening, with bowel cancer and breast screening invitations due to follow.

This winter, NHS England will begin rolling out a replacement digital service for the existing breast screening system (a legacy system called ‘the National Breast Screening Service’), which will provide an end-to-end service for frontline staff to manage breast screening in an easier, more efficient way. This follows the rollout of an improved IT system to support management of cervical screening, which went live last summer.

Work is also under way to put the IT and digital infrastructure in place to support the effective rollout of HPV self-testing for women and people with a cervix who have not come forward for their cervical screening appointments, due to go live in 2026.