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 potential merits of enabling women under the age of 25 to undergo cervical screening.

Almost all cervical cancers are caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV) which is linked to the development of the disease. With the high uptake of the HPV vaccination in adolescent girls since 2008, there is little evidence for lowering the age of cervical screening, as those born since September 1994 will turn 25 this year and become eligible for routine screening.

The United Kingdom National Screening Committee looked at the starting age for cervical screening in 2012 and recommended that screening should be offered from the age of 25. This was based on the evidence that screening below this age would in fact cause more harm than benefit.

Younger women often undergo natural and harmless changes in the cervix that screening would identify as cervical abnormalities. In the vast majority of cases these abnormalities will resolve themselves without any need for treatment.

A number of questions and answers have been written to help explain the rationale for starting screening at age 25 rather than 20. This document can be viewed at the following link:

https://legacyscreening.phe.org.uk/cervicalcancer-qa