Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what advice he has received from the (a) UK National Screening Committee and (b) Advisory Committee on Cervical Screening on the use of HPV testing as a primary screen within the cervical screening programme; [146096]

(2) what plans he has to introduce HPV testing as a primary screen within the cervical screening programme. [146097]

Anna Soubry, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State: At its meeting on 24 November 2011, the Advisory Committee on Cervical Screening recommended that there was enough evidence for a proposal of a pilot of human papillomavirus (HPV) testing as primary screening to go to the UK National Screening Committee. At its meeting on 25 April 2012, the UK National Screening Committee gave support for a pilot to assess the value of using HPV testing as the primary screen for cervical disease.

As set out in the second annual report of “Improving Outcomes: A Strategy for Cancer” in December 2012, six cervical screening sites will begin piloting HPV testing as primary screening shortly. The pilot sites are Liverpool; Manchester; Northwick Park, London; Bristol; Sheffield and Norwich.

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