Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will take steps to publish a (a) plan and (b) timetable for the elimination of cervical cancer.

In England, we are increasing the uptake of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination to the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) target of 90% through dedicated immunisation teams in schools where a 100% offer is made to all school aged children eligible for these vaccinations. Annually, HPV vaccines are promoted to university students as they start the Autumn term, and NHS England are planning a further HPV awareness campaign.

The NHS Cervical Cancer Screening Programme already aligns with the WHO’s target of 70% of women screened using a high-performance test by 35 and 45 years of age. Work is ongoing to improve this beyond the WHO target, through exploration into screening self-sampling via the YouScreen and HPValidate research.

A range of improvements and innovations have been brought in to help improve uptake in the NHS Cervical Screening Programme. For example, in some Primary Care Network areas, appointments can now be made in any Primary Care setting during evenings and on weekends, via integrated sexual health clinics.

There is currently no intention to publish a plan detailing these programmes.