Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the benefits of introducing a comprehensive breast cancer risk assessment for all women, including younger pre-screening age women.

In England, breast screening is offered to women under the age of 50 years old according to nationally recommended guidelines, based on their assessed risk of developing breast cancer. These can be found on the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s website in an online-only format.

Women younger than 50 years old are not routinely screened for breast cancer due to the lower risk of women under this age developing breast cancer, and the fact that women below 50 years old tend to have denser breasts. The denseness of breast tissue reduces the ability of getting an accurate mammogram, the accepted screening test for breast cancer.

Due to this and other factors, there is a risk of over-treatment and distress for women who do not have breast cancer but would be subjected to invasive and painful medical treatments and diagnostic tests. Therefore, the Government does not currently plan to introduce comprehensive breast cancer risk assessments for women under 50 years old, although the UK National Screening Committee keeps age brackets under review.

Some women have an increased chance of developing breast cancer because of their genes. Five to 10 out of 100, or 5% to 10% of, all breast cancers happen because of an inherited tendency, also called a genetic predisposition.

National Health Service breast cancer risk assessments in England are undertaken to identify the risk of having an inherited tendency of developing breast cancer. It is up to integrated care boards to commission breast cancer risk assessment services locally in line with national clinical guidance.

The NHS website has a webpage that raises awareness of checking breasts for potential symptoms of breast cancer in all age groups. The NHS Breast Screening Programme produced a five-point plan for being breast aware. The plan sets out that individuals should know what's normal for them, look at and feel their breasts, know what changes to look for, report any changes to a general practitioner without delay and attend routine screening when invited.