Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to support increased participation in bowel cancer screening in (a) Lincolnshire and (b) other rural areas.

In Lincolnshire, coverage amongst people aged between 60 and 74 years old is above the national average of 72.9% and currently stands at 75.5%. Nationally, coverage of bowel cancer screening has been increasing in recent years, with a marked increase from 2019 of 12.4% since the faecal immunochemical test was rolled out as the primary test in the screening programme.

Partners are working to increase participation in bowel cancer screening in Lincolnshire through a range of initiatives focused on improving access, awareness, and early diagnosis, including expanding eligibility for bowel cancer screening to include people aged over 50, enabling more residents to be screened, and working in partnership with the University of Lincoln's Lincolnshire Institute of Rural and Coastal Health to better understand barriers to screening participation and to develop evidence-based interventions to increase it.