Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress his Department has made on providing new breast cancer screening units.

Since 2023, ten new mobile breast screening units and nine new static breast screening units have been provided, alongside 37 wider upgrades covering hardware, software and live remote access for existing units.

Breast screening services are commissioned regionally, against a national service specification. Local breast screening providers are responsible for managing their equipment replacement plans and planning for service delivery to ensure they have sufficient capacity to delivery timely breast screening to their eligible population. Alongside the estate and equipment investment, comprehensive data is being collected via a workforce survey for breast screening services to support workforce planning at a local, regional and national level.

Early diagnosis is a key focus of the National Cancer Plan, which will build on the shifts in care set out in the 10-Year Health Plan to diagnose cancers earlier. Through the 10-Year Health Plan, we will make it easier for people to access cancer screening, diagnostic and treatment in patients’ local areas, backed by the latest technology to drive up this country’s cancer survival rates.