Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference Melanoma UK's report entitled, State of the Nation: Non Melanoma Skin Cancer, published in March 2020, if he will make it his Department's policy to highlight the importance of wearing (a) sunscreen and (b) a hat when outside in the sun to help prevent skin cancer.

Public Health England (PHE) is supportive of Melanoma UK’s initiative to increase awareness of non-melanoma skin cancer.

PHE supports the guidance on sun protection provided on the NHS website at the following link:

https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/healthy-body/sunscreen-and-sun-safety/

This guidance supports the wearing of hats and mentions the use of sunscreen. However, it states that sunscreen should not be relied upon alone to provide protection.

The ultraviolet (UV) Index provides an indication of the likelihood that the UV from the sun will cause sunburn. The BBC and the Met Office provide UV Index forecasts and advises that people check the UV Index forecasts. PHE reports near-live data from its monitoring sites across the UK at the following link:

https://uk-air.defra.gov.uk/data/uv-index-graphs

Further advice on sun safety is included in the Heatwave Plan for England, available to view at the following link: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/888668/Heatwave_plan_for_England_2020.pdf

PHE also provides advice to other Government departments, such as the Health and Safety Executive, on sun safety to help develop their policies.