Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions he has had with NHS England on the steps it plans to take to evaluate the clinical effectiveness of self-sampling for cervical screening compared with clinician-taken samples.

The Department is guided on screening policy by the UK National Screening Committee. The committee is working with National Institute for Health and Care Research and NHS England to develop an In Service Evaluation that will evaluate the clinical effectiveness of self-sampling for cervical screening compared with clinician-taken samples, as well as looking at how self-sampling would impact the routine cervical screening programme if offered to all eligible women.

From January 2026, screening providers in the NHS Cervical Screening Programme in England will be able to offer self-sampling kits to women if they have not attended their appointment for six months or more following routine invitation.

Self-sampling will help detect high-risk human papillomavirus, prevent cancer, and save lives in those who currently do not access clinician led screening. However, for those attending clinician testing, a shift to self-sampling might result in a programme that is not yet proven to be of equal efficacy. Further studies to consider whether self-sampling could be used across the whole population are being developed.