The government's own press release dated 2 June 2026 states that the government accepted the UK NSC's recommendation "to introduce England's first targeted prostate cancer screening programme." The qualifier "prostate" is critical. England already has a targeted lung cancer screening programme. The NHS England Targeted Lung Health Check Programme was launched as a pilot in 2019. In June 2023, the UK government announced a national rollout of a "national targeted lung cancer screening programme" following a UK NSC recommendation. On 1 February 2025, it was formally renamed the NHS Lung Cancer Screening Programme. The NHS England standard protocol explicitly states: "It falls within the UK National Screening Committee definitions of targeted and stratified national screening." It targets current and former smokers aged 55–74 based on smoking history — a classic risk-stratified (targeted) screening approach. Therefore, the prostate cancer screening programme is not England's first targeted cancer screening programme. That distinction belongs to the lung cancer screening programme, which predates it by several years. The accurate claim — as stated in the government's own press release — is that it is England's first targeted prostate cancer screening programme. By dropping the word "prostate," Starmer made a broader and inaccurate assertion. Sources: - GOV.UK, "Major expansion of research and treatment for prostate cancer" (2 June 2026): https://www.gov.uk/government/news/major-expansion-of-research-and-treatment-for-prostate-cancer - GOV.UK / UK National Screening Committee blog, "Targeted Lung Health Check Programme renamed the NHS Lung Cancer Screening Programme" (31 January 2025): https://nationalscreening.blog.gov.uk/2025/01/31/targeted-lung-health-check-programme-renamed-the-nhs-lung-cancer-screening-programme/ - GOV.UK, "New lung cancer screening roll out to detect cancer sooner" (June 2023): https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-lung-cancer-screening-roll-out-to-detect-cancer-sooner - NHS England, "Standard protocol and quality assurance standards for the Lung Cancer Screening Programme": https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/targeted-screening-for-lung-cancer/ - NHS, "Lung cancer screening": https://www.nhs.uk/tests-and-treatments/lung-cancer-screening/