Royston Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Royston Smith on 2016-03-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to increase stem cell donations from the 16 to 30 age group.

Jane Ellison

Since 2010, the Department has provided £19 million funding to improve the provision of stem cells in the United Kingdom. As part of this investment, the Department has supported the work of our delivery partners, NHS Blood and Transplant and the charity Anthony Nolan, to recruit young male donors, who are approximately 10 times more likely to be asked to donate. The cohort of young male donors, known as the Fit Panel, currently has 66,365 registered donors. Funding from the Department in the current financial year is supporting the recruitment further 20,000 young male donors.