Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Markham on 1 February (HL1933), what progress they have made on reducing variation in breast screening services since 2019.

The NHS Breast Screening Programmes were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, and some breast screening offices took the decision to pause services temporarily to support the pandemic response. All breast cancer screening services have now recovered from the pandemic, and have no backlog of people waiting to be screened.

Increasing uptake and reducing health inequalities remains paramount as part of the ambitions set out in the NHS Long Term Plan to directly support early detection and diagnosis of breast cancer. Regional commissioners are working closely with cancer alliances and cancer charities to develop uptake plans which address their specific populations needs.