PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Health: Screening (22 June 2015)

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to the Public Health England Marketing Strategy 2014 to 2017, published in July 2014, what discussions he has had with Public Health England about the progress of its work to trial mechanisms for improving screening uptake; and whether improving cervical screening uptake will form part of that trial.

Asked by:
Caroline Nokes (Conservative)

Public Health England’s (PHE) priority is to continue to raise public awareness of the signs and symptoms of cancer through the Be Clear on Cancer campaigns and to encourage people with those symptoms to see their general practitioner promptly. PHE is looking to understand and address inequalities in screening participation. A national workshop will be set up in the autumn to explore and share current knowledge and devise an action plan. The United Kingdom National Screening Committee has also commissioned an evidence review on inequalities.

The Advisory Committee on Cervical Cancer will be reviewing the results from the Strategies to increase cervical screening uptake at first invitation (STRATEGIC) trial, an on-going trial to identify and implement key innovations to help encourage uptake in young women who are entering the NHS Cervical Screening Programme at the age of 25. Further work will investigate the offer of self-sampling to non-attendees of all ages in the NHS Cervical Screening Programme.

Answered by:
Jane Ellison (Conservative)
30 June 2015