Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent steps he has taken to increase the uptake of cervical screening appointments.

A range of national improvements and innovations have been implemented to help increase uptake in the NHS Cervical Screening Programme. In some areas cervical screening appointments can now be made in any primary care setting rather than just at an individual’s own general practice, with appointments being made available during evenings and on weekends and via integrated sexual health clinics. In addition, laboratories that analyse samples can now operate 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to accommodate surges in capacity.