§ Mr. GrayTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) if he will place in the Library the lists of sites considered for the second phase of the newborn hearing screening programme; [72602]
(2) pursuant to his answer of 17 June 2002, Official Report. column 164W, on newborn hearing screening, how many sites will provide newborn screening by the end of (a) 2002, (b) 2003 and (c) 2004, and when the funding for each stage of this process will be committed. [72489]
§ Jacqui Smith[holding answer 23 July 2002]A list of the sites considered for the second phase of the newborn hearing screening programme will be placed in the Library.
Twenty-three sites are currently providing newborn hearing screening. We expect to bring on a further 16 sites by the end of March 2003, with approximately 30 additional sites during the financial year 2003–04. The remainder of sites are expected to come on stream by the end of the financial year 2004–05.