The debate will be opened by John Lamont MP.

Background

What is prostate cancer?

Prostate cancer affects the prostate (a small walnut-sized gland under the bladder).

According to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), risk factors for prostate cancer include:

  • Increasing age: this is one of the strongest risk factors for prostate cancer, with a higher risk for people aged 50 or older. The estimated incidence is 0.1% in men younger than 50, but autopsy studies show that by the age of 80, 70% of men will have evidence of prostate cancer.
  • Black ethnicity: There is a higher incidence of prostate cancer in men of Black ethnicity than in White men. The reason for this is unknown. The lifetime risk of being diagnosed with prostate cancer is one in four for Black men, compared with one in eight for White men. South Asian men living in England have a lower incidence of prostate cancer compared with White men.
  • Family history of prostate cancer and genetics: People are at higher risk if they have a close relative, for example a brother or father, who has had prostate cancer. The reason for this is still unclear, but could be that some genetic mutations increase the risk of prostate cancer. Gene mutations associated with other cancers (such as BRCA1 and BRCA2) have also been associated with an increased risk of prostate cancer.

The following checks for prostate cancer are recommended by NICE in its guideline on Suspected cancer: recognition and referral. In most cases, these checks would be completed by a GP for patients with symptoms of prostate cancer:

How are decisions about national screening programmes made?

The UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) makes recommendations about national screening programmes for health conditions in the UK.

Screening programmes look for signs of disease in patients who do not yet have symptoms. In evaluating potential screening programmes for the UK, the UK NSC considers the available tests and the principles of screening, including whether the potential benefits of introducing screening programmes outweigh potential harms, at a reasonable cost.

Potential harms of screening include false negative or false positive results, and the risk that people undergo further tests and treatment for a health condition that would ultimately not have caused them harm (known as overdiagnosis or overtreatment).

For example, the main harms of prostate cancer screening are the side effects of potentially unnecessary treatment, which can include incontinence and erectile dysfunction, when screening detects a slow-growing cancer that would not otherwise have affected someone’s lifespan. 

The petition and the government’s response

The petition Introduce a screening programme for prostate cancer, starting with high-risk men is being debated in Westminster Hall on 26 October 2026. The petition began on 13 January 2026 and closed on 13 July 2026. It received 101,932 signatures.

The petition called on the government to reassess the UK National Screening Committee’s (NSC) (at the time draft) recommendation to only offer prostate cancer screening to men with specific genetic variants (BRCA1/2). It called on the government to instead introduce prostate cancer screening for all high-risk men.

The government responded on 26 February 2026 and said it would make a final consideration on screening for prostate cancer after it received the UK NSC’s final recommendation.

UK National Screening Committee final recommendations and government response

In May 2026, the UK NSC published the minutes of its March 2026 meeting where its recommendations were finalised. It recommended:

  • A targeted screening programme for men aged 45 to 61 who carry a pathogenic (disease-causing) BRCA2 gene variant, and a family history of breast, ovarian, pancreatic or prostate cancer. These men should receive a PSA blood test every two years. The draft UK NSC recommendations said men with a BRCA1 variant should also be included in the targeted screening programme. This draft recommendation was not included in the final UK NSC recommendations. The UK NSC said that after analysing evidence, it concluded those with a BRAC1 variant “are not at a sufficiently elevated risk to suggest that benefits of screening would outweigh the harms”.
  • No screening programme for prostate cancer for the general population or any other risk groups. This is because the committee concluded screening is “more likely to cause more harm than good”.

The committee also said that there was uncertainty about whether the benefits of screening would outweigh the harms for Black men and other high-risk groups and that it would work closely with UK researchers and the TRANSFORM trial to address this. The TRANSFORM research trial, funded by the charity Prostate Cancer UK and the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), is currently underway and aims to generate new evidence about the effectiveness of screening men for prostate cancer.

The committee recommendations are published alongside supporting documents, including an evidence review, cost-effectiveness model and information about a public consultation. 

In June 2026, the government accepted the committee’s recommendations. The screening programme for men aged 45 to 61 with a pathogenic BRCA2 gene variant is expected to begin roll-out in 2027. The government said the current evidence does not yet support a wider screening programme, but that it would keep it under review. It also announced additional funding of up to £18 million to expand the TRANSFORM study. This funding is intended to allow all eligible Black men (UK residents between 45 and 74 years who have not had a PSA test or prostate MRI scan in the last 5 years) to be invited to take part in the second stage of the study.

In addition, the government announced up to £2.8 million of capital funding “to strengthen and expand provision of focal therapy”. Focal therapy is a prostate cancer treatment that is less invasive and causes fewer side effects than traditional surgery or radiotherapy.

Stakeholder commentary

The petition Introduce a screening programme for prostate cancer, starting with high-risk men (commenting on the draft recommendations) said it disagrees with the UK NSC analysis of the evidence “and the weight it has placed on avoiding unintended harms”.

Reaction has been mixed to the final UK NSC recommendations that the government accepted. Some stakeholders have said the current arrangements could disadvantage people at risk of prostate cancer. Other stakeholders have agreed with the UK NSC that there was not sufficient evidence of benefits for a targeted screening programme for more groups of people. Stakeholders highlighted the importance of further research into the effectiveness of prostate cancer screening.

Press and campaign material

Cancer Research UK, UK NSC recommends targeted prostate cancer screening, 28 May 2026

Prostate Cancer UK, First men tested in our landmark £42m TRANSFORM trial to secure screening for all men, 23 March 2026

Prostate Cancer UK, Prostate cancer now the most common cancer in the UK, latest NHS figures reveal, 20 January 2026

Telegraph, The men whose prostate cancer was discovered thanks to a PSA test, 12 October 2026

Telegraph, Prostate cancer survival rates improve as more men come forward, 8 October 2026

Telegraph, ‘Clarkson-Cameron effect’ prompts thousands to have prostate cancer checks, 15 September 2026

Independent, Prostate cancer test that helped diagnose Jeremy Clarkson to be offered to 10,000 men in London, 10 September 2026

Telegraph, Rationing prostate cancer screening will kill thousands, experts warn, 10 September 2026

Independent, Why changes to UK prostate cancer screening are causing controversy, 19 August 2026

Times, Men ‘will lose right to prostate cancer tests’, 14 August 2026

Telegraph, Prostate screening panel has no experts, campaigners claim, 2 July 2026

Times, I’m a cancer surgeon and have prostate cancer. I don’t want screening, 7 June 2026

BBC News, ‘Prostate cancer screening comes too late for my brother’, 4 June 2026

BBC News, More black men to benefit from prostate cancer screening trial , 2 June 2026

BBC News, Prostate cancer screening only for “a few thousand” at risk men, 28 May 2026

Guardian, Most UK men should not be offered prostate cancer screening, experts say, 28 May 2026

Parliamentary Material

Written Statement

WS HCW80 [on Prostate Cancer Screening], 2 June 2026

Parliamentary Questions

PQ 21340 [on Prostate Cancer: Screening, UK National Screening Committee, timetable], 10 September 2026

PQ 19612 [on Prostate Cancer: Screening, UK National Screening Committee, Screening for prostate cancer report, cost], 3 September 2026

PQ 17458 [on Prostate Cancer: Screening,  UK National Screening Committee’s prostate cancer screening model, timeline], 16 July 2026

PQ 17458 [on Prostate Cancer: Screening, UK National Screening Committee’s prostate cancer screening model, timeline], 16 July 2026

PQ 15596 [on Prostate Cancer: Screening, targeted screening], 13 July 2026

PQ 11797 [on Prostate Cancer: Screening, impact of the introduction of an organised prostate cancer screening programme on levels of PSA testing], 13 July 2026

PQ 11796 [on Prostate Cancer: Screening, how will peer-reviewed evidence be incorporated into the UK National Screening Committee’s prostate cancer screening economic model], 6 July 2026

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