Thank you. I’d like to begin by joining the other speakers in thanking the petitioners who raised this important issue, and also put on record my thanks to the Petitions Committee for its thoughtful consideration of the matter and its report and recommendations, and also all the speakers in the debate for their thoughtful and powerful contributions.

Ovarian cancer can affect women at any age but it’s more common amongst women who’ve been through the menopause and, as we’ve heard in the debate, the symptoms of ovarian cancer can be similar to those of other conditions and therefore it can be difficult to diagnose. This is an important issue for women in Wales and I hope the committee’s consideration of this issue and our debate today will help raise the profile of ovarian cancer.

Population screening is the process of identifying healthy people who may be at an increased risk of a disease or condition, or identifying the presence of an as-yet-undiagnosed disease or condition in a person. We then can respond through the provision of information, further tests or treatment. Screening, therefore, has the potential to identify conditions at an early and more easily treatable stage. Screening can save lives, improve your quality of life and reduce the need for costly interventions and treatments at a more advanced stage.

However, it’s important to understand what screening can and cannot do. Screening can save lives by identifying risks early, but it can also cause harm by identifying some factors that will never develop into a serious condition. Screening also doesn’t guarantee protection. Some people may receive a low-risk result from screening but this may not prevent them from developing the condition at a later date.

Population screening should only be offered where there is robust, high-quality evidence that it will do more good than harm and be cost-effective within the overall NHS budget. Where such evidence exists, the Welsh Government invests in screening programmes.

I’d like to reassure you that all of our population-based, pre-symptomatic screening programmes, which range from antenatal screening of pregnant women to screening older men for aneurisms, are developed and delivered using the best available evidence and are subject to regular review.

The UK National Screening Committee provide independent, expert advice on population-based screening to all UK Ministers. The committee brings academic rigour and authority to what is an extremely complex area and is a world leader in its field. The screening programmes in the UK are amongst the most respected in the world. The UK National Screening Committee has recently considered the evidence from a large UK trial into ovarian cancer screening. The evidence to date is not conclusive and the expert committee has not currently recommended screening for ovarian cancer.

The UK collaborative trial of ovarian cancer screening and leading cancer charities agree that the evidence does not yet show screening can reduce deaths from ovarian cancer. As we’ve heard during the debate, the study did find that, for every ovarian cancer detected by screening, a number of women had unnecessary surgery, and around 3 per cent of women who had unnecessary surgery had a major complication. These and other harms, such as raised anxiety levels, will need to be carefully considered should further evidence support screening.

The UK collaborative trial of ovarian cancer screening is ongoing and I understand that further evidence will be available in 2019. The UK National Screening Committee will review its recommendation when this evidence becomes available. The Welsh Government will keep the potential for a national population screening programme for ovarian cancer under review and we continue to be advised by the UK expert advisory committee on this matter.

We recognise that we need to do more to identify cancers sooner. Our NHS must respond appropriately to women presenting with symptoms that require investigation. The NHS in Wales is implementing the new National Institute for Health and Care Excellence suspected cancer referral guidelines, which have lowered the threshold of suspicion and are specifically aimed at encouraging more referrals. Our current GP contract requires that each surgery reviews cases of ovarian cancer to identify opportunities to improve the care given to women. And there is now a GP lead in every health board to help primary care better identify, refer and support people affected by cancer.

We’ll continue to work with the NHS across Wales to improve the early detection of ovarian cancer and improve swift access to the latest evidence-based treatment. It’s important that people are able to recognise symptoms and feel confident in contacting their GP. This is not just a challenge for ovarian cancer, but for a number of cancers with non-specific symptoms. An awareness campaign for ovarian cancer has recently been undertaken. The campaign was launched in March 2016 and included the distribution of leaflets and posters to all GP surgeries in Wales. This activity, together with the valued work of cancer charities and campaigners, has helped raise awareness of ovarian cancer across Wales. Our cancer delivery plan, which was launched in November 2016, includes a commitment to raise awareness of the symptoms of cancer. It is imperative that we’re informed by the experts as to which cancers to target and how. Quite simply, as a layperson, I don’t want to pre-empt that, and that is the reasoning behind our approach to recommendation 3. The cancer implementation group will lead on the development of future awareness-raising activity. They will consider site-specific awareness campaigns, but will also be considering the benefits of a more generic awareness-raising campaign. Proposals for a rolling awareness campaign through to 2020 are due later this year.

I’d like to close by thanking the Petitions Committee for bringing this debate to the floor of the Senedd today and I’m sure the committee’s scrutiny of this issue and this debate will help further raise awareness of ovarian cancer across Wales. Diolch yn fawr.