Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of (a) the Manchester Lung Health Check and (b) other lung cancer screening pilots; and what steps his Department is taking to improve early diagnosis of (i) lung cancer and (ii) other lung diseases throughout the country.

The Department considers the Manchester Lung Health Check to have been successful. Two thirds of patients who received a Manchester Lung Health Check and suffered from cancer had the cancer caught at the earliest stage as a result of this check. Diagnosing lung cancer this early increases the chance of survival. Following the success of the Manchester Lung Health Check, NHS England will be running other pilot programmes of low dose CT scanning in clinical commissioning groups with the lowest lung cancer survival rates.

Improving early diagnosis of cancer is a priority for this Government. We have committed to delivering the recommendations in the Cancer Strategy for England, including the new 28 day faster diagnosis standard, and NHS England has confirmed £200 million of transformation funding over the next two years, including encouraging local areas to find new and innovative ways to diagnose cancer earlier.

Improving care for people with other lung diseases is also crucial. This requires continued action to implement existing plans, including the NHS Outcomes Framework, which details National Health Service priority areas and includes reducing deaths from respiratory disease as a key indicator.