Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to encourage more people to become blood donors in a) Stockport and b) Greater Manchester.

NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) is responsible for blood services in England and is delivering initiatives to encourage more people to become blood donors nationally, including in Stockport and across Greater Manchester.

This includes targeted partnership work with local employers in Greater Manchester, such as Aon and Deloitte, to engage and support staff to donate at nearby donor centres.

NHSBT also funds Community Grants Programme projects in Greater Manchester, including projects delivered with organisations such as:

• the Sickle Cell Society, which works with universities and partners such as ACS Give Blood to raise awareness of sickle cell disorder and promote blood donation among Black students. Further information is available at the following link:
  https://www.sicklecellsociety.org/about-us/;
• Become United, which raises awareness of blood donation within Black African and Caribbean communities, particularly among people facing barriers linked to ethnicity, religion, or refugee status. Further information is available at the following link:
  https://www.becomeunited.org.uk/; and
• the Caribbean and African Health Network, which work with Black African and Caribbean communities to raise awareness of blood donation and address barriers to participation. Further information is available at the following link:
  https://www.cahn.org.uk/

Further information on the Community Grants Programme overall is available at the following link:

https://www.nhsbt.nhs.uk/how-you-can-help/get-involved/community-grants-programme/

Additionally, NHSBT has also delivered extensive outreach activity in Greater Manchester, including two mass blood‑typing events held at the Trafford Centre, a three day event, and the Arndale Centre, a seven day event, which are accessible to people living in Stockport and the wider Greater Manchester area.