Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether the UK National Screening Committee, before reaching its recommendation on population screening for cardiac conditions associated with sudden cardiac death in young people, will consider the research published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology in February based on the screening of 104,369 young people in the UK; and, if not, what mechanism exists for significant new peer-reviewed evidence published after the evidence cut-off for the review to be considered before a final recommendation is made.

The public consultation conducted on this issue by the UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) closed on 31 August, and the UK NSC is currently reviewing all contributions to that consultation, alongside the available scientific evidence. The research referred to by the Noble Lord published on 24 February falls outside the search dates for the evidence map. However, the consultation submissions included reference to the study. As such it will be carefully reviewed and considered as part of the post-consultation analysis before the UK NSC makes a formal screening recommendation.