Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of regional variations in the uptake of prostate specific antigen testing in men.

Routine prostate specific antigen (PSA) testing is not offered on the National Health Service, and therefore the Department has not taken a formal assessment of uptake. However, men aged 50 years old or over can ask their general practitioner for a PSA test, even if they do not have symptoms. This applies to anyone aged 50 years old or over in any part of England.

Whilst it is recognised that the PSA test can be a valuable diagnostic tool in certain contexts, its limitations mean it is not currently recommended for population-level screening. To find better ways of testing for prostate cancer, the Government is investing £16 million into the Prostate Cancer UK-led TRANSFORM screening trial, which aims to identify more effective approaches for detecting prostate cancer earlier.

The UK National Screening Committee, which independently advises ministers, is also reviewing the evidence for both population-wide and targeted prostate cancer screening. Depending on the UK National Screening Committee’s recommendation regarding screening for prostate cancer, an impact assessment may also be produced using the HM Treasury Green Book methodology, which considers wider social and economic impacts.