Today in Parliament I met with Sam Dixon, Chief Executive of the charity Jo's Cervical Cancer Trust, to mark Cervical Cancer Prevention Week and to support the campaign to end cervical cancer.

The charity was founded by London businessman James Maxwell in memory of his wife, Jo, who died from cervical cancer in 1999 at the age of 40.

Every year in the UK, 3,200 women are diagnosed with cervical cancer and 850 women die of it, even though cervical cancer is largely preventable through HPV vaccination and cervical screening.

Nationally, attendance rates for cervical screenings are 69.9%.

Whilst local attendance rates for cervical screenings are higher than the national average (75.8% in Shropshire and 72.2% in Telford & Wrekin) that still means that 1 in 4 invitations for screenings locally are not accepted.

I encourage more women to come forward for screening, as earlier health interventions lead to far better health outcomes.