Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, in regard to prostate screening, for what reason there is a difference between black and white men between the ages of 45 and 74.

The targeted screening programme, announced on 2 June 2026 and rolling out in 2027, will screen men between 45 and 61 years old who have a BRCA2 gene variant and a family history of prostate, breast, pancreatic or ovarian cancer. The UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) has assessed that a targeted screening programme for men who meet these criteria is justified on the basis that prostate cancer occurs more often, at a younger age and more aggressively for men in this group than for other men. This means that, for this group, the benefits of early detection and treatment would outweigh the harms associated with overdiagnosis and treatment side effects.

The UK NSC concluded that while we know Black men are twice as likely to be diagnosed with and die from prostate cancer than white men, there is not enough evidence to be confident that screening Black men would do more good than harm. This is because Black men have been historically underrepresented in clinical trials relating to prostate cancer.

That is why the Government is investing up to an additional £18 million in the TRANSFORM trial so that all eligible Black men will be invited to take part in stage 2 of the trial. This investment will help to address long-standing inequalities in risk and outcomes, as well as providing useful insights into the best screening methods that will benefit all men.

The Government has published an equality impact assessment which sets out the potential impact on health inequalities and any mitigations; the assessment is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/prostate-cancer-screening-equality-impact-assessment/equality-impact-assessment-introduction-of-a-targeted-prostate-cancer-screening-programme#intended-aims-of-the-programme