Prostate Cancer: Screening
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to increase funding for prostate cancer screening.
Answered by Ashley Dalton
The UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC), which advises ministers on all screening matters, does not recommend population screening for prostate cancer. As such, England does not currently have a national screening programme that requires funding from the Department.
As part of its commitment to review its recommendations, the UK NSC has commissioned an evidence review for prostate cancer screening. This will cover modelling the clinical effectiveness and cost of several approaches to prostate cancer screening. It will include different potential ways of screening the whole population and targeted screening aimed at groups of people identified as being at higher-than-average risk, such as black men or men with a family history of cancer.
Once the modelling and evidence review are complete it will be considered by the UK NSC. Subject to no further revisions being required, the UK NSC plans to hold a public consultation towards the end of 2025. After this the UK NSC will make a recommendation. Ministers will then be asked to consider whether to accept the recommendation.
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