§ Mr. DunnachieTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what steps will be taken to ensure adequate levels of cervical cytology screening in areas of severe socio-economic deprivation.
§ Mr. Michael ForsythOur policy is to make available a comprehensive cervical cancer screening service to all women in Scotland aged between 20 and 60. To this end most health boards have introduced fully computerised call and recall systems for cervical screening. The remainder will be doing so shortly. We also propose to introduce target payments to encourage general practitioners to achieve a high uptake rate of women for screening.