Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the health benefits of introducing a national lung screening programme.

The UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) undertook a review of the evidence relating to the clinical effectiveness of screening for lung cancer in adults with a history of tobacco smoking. This found high quality evidence that screening in this group identified lung cancer earlier and significantly reduced deaths from lung cancer.

Following a public consultation, the UK NSC recommended that lung cancer screening should be implemented in the United Kingdom. The Department is currently considering the recommendation from the UK NSC with NHS England.