Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps the Warwickshire, Solihull and Coventry Breast Screening Unit is taking as part of the breast screening improvement plan; what the timeline is for their delivery; and how much funding has been allocated for their delivery.

NHS England Midlands is the responsible commissioner for the NHS Breast Cancer Screening Programme delivered across the Warwickshire, Solihull, and Coventry locality. The Warwickshire, Solihull, and Coventry service is one of the largest breast screening services in England, inviting approximately 55,000 people for screening each year.

NHS England Midlands has advised that for the breast screening improvement plan, work has begun on reviewing coverage for the Warwickshire, Solihull, and Coventry breast screening services. The service continues to collaborate with primary care practices to promote uptake for patients in low uptake areas, and staff facilitate local community events to educate on the importance of breast screening, for instance at the Godiva and Pride Festivals in Coventry.

In 2024/25 the service will receive a contract value in excess of £3 million, to ensure that cancer is detected early through screening. The service has also received capital investment during the last two years, which has supported additional imaging equipment to increase overall screening capacity within the service and pathway.

Work continues to ensure the current breast screening provision is improving, and once coverage has returned to pre-pandemic levels, NHS England Midlands hope to go further on ambitions to decrease inequity across all cancer screening programmes.