Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions he had with his Northern Ireland counterpart on lowering the smear age for women.

My Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has had no conversations with his Northern Irish counterpart on lowering the age of cervical screening. The UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) advises the administrations of all four nations on aspects of screening, including age thresholds. However, the implementation of any UK NSC screening recommendation is a devolved matter.