Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to invite independent economic and clinical reviewers to assess revisions to the prostate cancer screening model before a final recommendation is made by the UK National Screening Committee.

The Government has made it clear that it would like to see screening in place for prostate cancer where it is supported by the evidence.

The UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) consulted on their draft recommendation regarding prostate cancer screening which was based on a model commissioned from Sheffield Centre for Health and Related Research (SCHARR). SCHARR included expert economists and clinicians in workshops throughout the model’s development. The UK NSC ran a series of workshops with economists, academics, and clinicians to examine the model’s structure, evidence, assumptions, and conclusions. It also ran a 12-week public consultation on their draft recommendation and evidence package. Upon request, York Health Economics Consortium were given access to the underpinning model and York, as well as Prostate Cancer Research who funded York’s work, have submitted findings to the consultation. Updates have been made on the basis of comments which have been shared with experts. These findings will be considered alongside the other submissions to the consultation before UK NSC make a final recommendation based on the current evidence base.

The model will be maintained and interrogated as new evidence becomes available. The UK NSC is committed to keeping prostate cancer screening under review.