On 28 November, the UK National Screening Committee opened a 12-week public consultation on a draft recommendation on screening for prostate cancer. We anticipate a final recommendation in early 2026. After which, my Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, will make a decision on whether to accept the recommendation, and what next steps are needed. Any policy developed from the recommendation will be supported by an equality impact assessment to ensure that health inequality that could be caused by the policy will be mitigated against.

The Department recognises that access to PSMA PET-CT imaging varies across England and that this may exacerbate existing disparities.

NHS England has introduced a commissioning policy for PSMA PET-CT imaging for patients with high-risk or recurrent prostate cancer, and work is underway to expand capacity and improve resilience in diagnostic services

Tackling health inequalities remains a core priority. Through the Core20PLUS5 framework, NHS England is working to reduce disparities in cancer outcomes. The forthcoming National Cancer Plan will set out further actions to improve early diagnosis and equitable access to cancer services across England.

The Department takes the challenge of health misinformation seriously and recognises its potential impact on public health outcomes. We focus on delivering consistent, clinically assured messaging that builds public trust and confidence, positioning the Department and the National Health Service as reliable sources of information. We also work closely with a wide range of community media, organisations, clinical experts, and influential voices to ensure messaging is accessible to diverse ethnic communities.

NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) is responsible for blood donation in England.

Recruiting donors from black heritage backgrounds is a strategic priority for NHSBT, driven by the clinical need to provide better matched blood for patients with conditions like sickle cell, which disproportionately affects people of black heritage. As a result, NHSBT is delivering marketing and communication activities that target key diverse areas. Greater Manchester is one of NHSBT's key target regions for their Giving Types campaign, with proactive public relations and regional media stories being deployed to drive the appeal for more blood donors using real-life case studies from the local area. Further information on the Giving Types campaign is available at the following link:

https://www.blood.co.uk/news-and-campaigns/campaigns/giving-type/

The NHSBT Community Grants Programme funds community and faith/belief organisations to drive awareness, understanding, and behaviour change amongst black, Asian, mixed heritage, and minority ethnic communities to build support for blood donation. NHSBT has two Community Grant Programme groups operating in Manchester, specifically Become United and the Caribbean and African Health Network (CAHN). They host events, webinars, and produce videos on behalf of NHSBT to promote blood donation within their communities. Further information on the NHSBT Community Grants Programme is available at the following link:

https://www.nhsbt.nhs.uk/how-you-can-help/get-involved/community-grants-programme/

NHSBT attends and hosts specific events which will attract a high number of people from ethnic minority backgrounds to encourage blood donation, for example the recent attendance at CAHN’s Windrush Day 2025 in Alexandra Park, Greater Manchester.

NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) is responsible for collecting blood donations across England, in order to fulfil hospital requests to meet patient need.

From 1 June 2024 to 31 May 2025, a total of 4,493 donors deferred due to travel. The following table shows the ethnic breakdown of these deferrals as a proportion of (a) total deferrals and (b) total deferrals per ethnic group:

Source: NHSBT’s centrally held administrative systems, extracted 27 June 2025.

Note: *Any other ethnic group includes Gypsy or Irish Traveller and Roma to comply with small number suppression.

Practitioners are expected to take a risk-based approach to the screening, diagnosis, and treatment of group B streptococcus (GBS). Under current National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidance, pregnant women who are known to carry GBS, or who have risk factors such as a previous baby with GBS infection or fever during labour, should be offered antibiotics during labour to help prevent early-onset infection in their baby.

People from certain ethnic groups may be predisposed to health conditions which may affect their maternity outcomes, and a study led by the UK Health Security Agency did conclude that the rate of GBS was higher in those of black or Asian ethnicity.

To improve understanding, prevention, and treatment of GBS infection, the Department is supporting a trial, funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research. It aims to determine whether routine testing for GBS for all women, either in late pregnancy or on admission for labour with point of care testing, reduces early-onset neonatal sepsis compared to the current approach of risk-based screening.

Findings from the trial will be submitted to the Department and reviewed by the UK National Screening Committee to inform future decisions on national screening policy.

NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) is responsible for collecting blood donations across England, in order to fulfil hospital requests to meet patient need. From 1 June 2024 to 31 May 2025, a total of 173,574 donors were deferred due to low haemoglobin. The following table shows the ethnic breakdown of these deferrals as a proportion of total deferrals, and the total deferrals per ethnic group:

Source: data is taken from NHSBT’s centrally held administrative systems, extracted 27 June 2025

Note: ‘Any other ethnic group’ includes Gypsy or Irish Traveller and Roma to comply with small number suppression.

NHS Blood and Transplant is responsible for collecting blood donations across England, in order to fulfil hospital requests to meet patient need. From 1 June 2024 to 31 May 2025, a total of 4,493 donors deferred due to travel. The table attached shows the ethnic and gender breakdown of these deferrals as a proportion of total deferrals and the total deferrals per ethnic group.

NHS Blood and Transplant is responsible for collecting blood donations across England, in order to fulfil hospital requests to meet patient need. From 1 June 2024 to 31 May 2025, a total of 173,574 donors were deferred due to low haemoglobin. The table attached shows the combined ethnic and gender breakdown of these deferrals as a proportion of total deferrals, and the total deferrals per ethnic group.

NHS England launched its first ever cervical cancer elimination creative campaign and communications toolkit for Cervical Screening Awareness Week, which took place between 16 and 24 June 2025. The campaign included digital resources that create a strong sense of shared responsibility and aim to increase awareness of the elimination goal, educate the public, and build confidence in cervical screening.

In March 2025, NHS England published its Cervical cancer elimination plan by 2040 – plan for England, setting out how the National Health Service will improve equitable uptake and coverage across cervical screening to meet the goal to eliminate cervical cancer by 2040. NHS England will build on what is already working well to drive vaccination and screening uptake and coverage, focussing on five cross-cutting themes: increasing access; raising awareness; reducing inequalities; improving digital capabilities; and strengthening workforce capacity. Further information on the Cervical cancer elimination plan by 2040 – plan for England is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/cervical-cancer-elimination-by-2040-plan-for-england/

From early 2026, screening providers in the NHS Cervical Screening Programme in England will be able to offer human papillomavirus self-sampling kits to women if they have not attended their appointment for six months or more following routine invitation.

Barriers to cervical screening for underserved communities and people who experience health inequalities must continue to be addressed. This will include identifying groups using national and local level data who may be at higher risk of developing cervical cancer, to inform national initiatives, such as tailored screening invitations, and support local service planning.

The National Disease Registration Service in NHS England, as the national cancer registry, collects and analyses diagnosis and treatment data on cancer patients in England. Further information on the National Disease Registration Service is available at the following link:

https://digital.nhs.uk/ndrs

The following estimates are taken from the data used in Accredited Official Statistics on Cancer Registration for 2022, the most recent diagnosis year available, with further information available at the following link:

https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/cancer-registration-statistics/england-2022

The estimates apply the 2021 census ethnic groups for England and Wales, namely:

• Asian or Asian British;
• black, black British, Caribbean, or African;
• mixed or multiple ethnic groups;
• white; and
• other ethnic group

Further information on the ethnic groups used is available at the following link:

https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/culturalidentity/ethnicity/bulletins/ethnicgroupenglandandwales/census2021

Where an ethnicity is not stated on the data sources that are used to compile the cancer registration statistics, these are given the label “Unknown (not stated)”.

The proportions given are on a complete case basis, which compares known stage at diagnosis, and stageable diagnoses for which insufficient data has been reported to the National Disease Registration Service are not included. The definition of early and late stage diagnoses are those used in the NHS Long Term Plan ambitions for cancer, specifically that diagnoses at stages 1 and 2 are considered to be early, and diagnoses at stages 3 and 4 are considered to be late. Further information on the NHS Long Term Plan ambitions for cancer is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/cancer/strategy/

The following table shows the number and proportion of cancers diagnosed early and late for all stageable diagnoses combined, by ethnic group, in 2022, in England:

Not every cancer is stageable, and some types of cancer do not have a staging system, so the tabulations above are for a subset of the reported total number of diagnoses of cancer.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has published guidance on the management of overweight and obesity. This specifies that a lower body mass index (BMI) threshold should be used as a practical measure of overweight and obesity for some adults from ethnic minority backgrounds, including South Asian, as they are prone to higher levels of abdominal fat and have an increased risk of developing certain health conditions at a lower BMI.

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) monitors trends in the level of childhood vaccination rates by upper tier local authority (UTLA), region, and country. The UKHSA does not routinely collect data on trends in the level of the uptake of vaccines by children from ethnic minority communities in England. An assessment of coverage trends and ethnicity was published in the Lancet in 2023, and is available at the following link:

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/eclinm/article/PIIS2589-5370(23)00458-3/fulltext

Data on the coverage of all routine childhood immunisations is published quarterly by the UKHSA, and is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/cover-of-vaccination-evaluated-rapidly-cover-programme-2024-to-2025-quarterly-data

Annual coverage data is also published by NHS England, and is available at the following link:

https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/nhs-immunisation-statistics/england-2023-24

NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) is responsible for blood donation in England.  NHSBT does not hold data on deferrals resulting from an appointment booking call. It is possible that donors mention a reason which then may result in a deferral during the call, for instance if they have recently travelled or had a tattoo, and are therefore told to wait for an exclusion period, however this information is not recorded.

NHSBT holds information on the number of donors deferred during the donor health check. From 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025, a total of 322,189 donors were deferred. Of these donors:

• 16,832 were of Asian ethnicity, 14,806 were black, 281,042 were white, and 9,509 were “other”;
• 201,065 were female and 121,124 were male, their biological sex at birth; and
• the main reason for donor deferral was low haemoglobin. Other main reasons are “medical”, such as medical conditions which result in a deferral for the donor’s health or due to medications that would be present in the donor’s blood, and failed venepuncture.

NHS Blood and Transplant is responsible for blood donation in England. From 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025, the most recent data available, there were 3,193 deferred female donors due to travel, and 2,186 of which, or 68.5%, were white.

NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) is responsible for blood donation in England.  NHSBT collects donor’s sex as assigned at birth and their gender identity. A donor’s sex is recorded as the ways in which blood products are donated and processed differ between those assigned male and female at birth.

The following table shows the number of deferrals due to low haemoglobin levels by those of African, Caribbean, mixed white and African, and mixed white and Caribbean heritage, broken down by biological sex at birth, from 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025, the latest data available:

NHS Blood and Transplant is responsible for blood donation in England. From 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025, the most recent data available, 23.93% of donors with black African heritage, 18.44% of donors of Black Caribbean heritage, 13.60% of donors of mixed white and black African heritage, 11.75% of donors of mixed backgrounds, and 9.38% of donors of white background had their donations deferred due to low haemoglobin levels.

NHS Blood and Transplant is responsible for blood donation in England. From 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025, the most recent data available, 3.87% of donors with black African heritage, 0.67% of donors of Black Caribbean heritage, 0.86% donors of mixed white and black African heritage, 0.53% of donors of mixed backgrounds, and 0.28% of donors of white backgrounds had their donations deferred due to travel.

Children are identified as a specific population group requiring actions in the joint UK Health Security Agency and NHS England plan, Tuberculosis (TB): action plan for England, 2021 to 2026, but there are no high-level indicators to report relating to TB in children as the number of infections and the rate of TB in children are low.

Enhanced surveillance involving rigorous data collection is carried out for all individuals with TB. For specific population groups where TB is more common, for example, those who have a social risk factor, detailed data analysis is presented in the Annual Reports for Tuberculosis in England, which are available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/tuberculosis-in-england-2024-report/tuberculosis-in-children-aged-0-to-17-years-england-2023

Indicators to monitor actions are identified in the joint plan, which is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/tuberculosis-tb-action-plan-for-england/tuberculosis-tb-action-plan-for-england-2021-to-2026

In 2023, 102 out of 259, or 39.4% of, children under 18 years old notified with TB with a known country of birth, were born in the United Kingdom. In the group of children aged between zero and four years old, the proportion born in the UK was 80.4%, or 41 out of 51 individuals.

Data on ethnicity are not reported separately for children due to small numbers. Information about travel history and source of infection is not available for this age group.

Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccination coverage for eligible children is captured as part of the Cover of Vaccination Evaluated Rapidly programme. The latest quarterly national data available is for infants at age three months for children, born between April and June 2024, and at age 12 months, born between July and September 2023. Measured at three months, coverage in England was 78.4% and measured at 12 months, it was 84.1%. The full data is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/cover-of-vaccination-evaluated-rapidly-cover-programme-2022-to-2023-quarterly-data/quarterly-vaccination-coverage-statistics-for-children-aged-up-to-5-years-in-the-uk-cover-programme-january-to-march-2023

The eligibility criteria for BCG in the UK is a selective risk-based programme targeting children with a parent or grandparent born in a high incidence country or infants in areas of the UK with high TB incidence. Further information is available at the following link:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5b645a2140f0b66875559e93/_Greenbook_chapter_32_Tuberculosis_.pdf

NHS Blood and Transplant is responsible for blood donation in England. The following table shows the number and proportion of deferrals due to the donor’s recent travel to other countries for those of African, Caribbean, mixed white and African, and mixed white and Caribbean heritage, from 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025, the most recent data available: