Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking through early diagnosis and screening programmes to reduce the risk of cancer.

On the advice of the UK National Screening Committee, breast cancer screening, bowel cancer screening and cervical cancer screening are offered to eligible people to help them reduce their risk of dying from cancer.

Cervical screening is not a test for cancer but for abnormalities which, if left undetected and untreated, may develop into cancer. The NHS Cervical Screening Programme in England offers screening to women aged 25 to 49 every three years, and women aged 50 to 64 every five years. Experts estimate the programme saves up to 5,000 lives per year in the United Kingdom.

The NHS Breast Screening Programme invites women aged 50 to 70 for breast screening every three years. Women over 70 can request free three yearly screening. The 2012 UK independent review of breast cancer screening (Marmot review) estimated that inviting women between the ages of 50 to 70 reduces mortality from breast cancer in the invited population invited by 20% and saves an estimated 1,300 lives a year in the UK.

The NHS Bowel Cancer Screening Programme offers screening using a self-sampling kit, the guaiac Faecal Occult Blood test (FOB), every two years to men and women aged 60 to 74.

The UK National Screening Committee has recommended that the Faecal Immunochemical Test (FIT) be used as the primary test for bowel cancer instead of the currently used FOB test. Ministers are now considering the UK NSC’s recommendation.

The NHS Bowel Cancer Screening Programme is currently rolling out Bowel Scope Screening (BSS), an additional one off examination which will play a significant role in preventing bowel cancer. Both men and women are being invited for BSS around the time of their 55th birthday with the aim of detecting and removing any adenomas (polyps) at an early stage to prevent bowel cancer from developing. Evidence shows that men and women aged 55-64 attending a one-off bowel scope screening test for bowel cancer could reduce their individual mortality from the disease by 43% (31% on a whole population basis) and reduce their individual incidence of bowel cancer by 33% (23% on a whole population basis).