Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact on (a) health inequality and (b) life expectancy of the decision by the North East London Cancer Alliance not to include patients from Newham in the initial round of invitations for targeted lung health checks.

The Targeted Lung Health Check Programme is a national pilot of a new service for those aged 55 to 74 years old who have ever smoked, which is being deployed in specific locations in England. In North East London, the decision on the location for the pilot was based on smoking prevalence data and geographical spread and maximising the impact of the pilot.

The UK National Screening Committee has recommended a screening programme for lung cancer targeted at people aged 55 to 74 identified as being at high risk of lung cancer and we will consider the recommendation in due course.