§ Mrs. Peacockasked the Secretary of State for Social Services when he expects the expert group to report on proposals to improve screening for breast cancer.
§ Mr. Kenneth Clarkehave asked the chairman of the group to let me have a report as soon as possible. I announced the formation of the group on 2 July. The chairman will need time before he can make a realistic assessment of how long this task will take.
§ Mr. Hancockasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will list the number of women suffering from breast cancer in the years between 1979 and 1984 in the following age groups: 16 to 24 years and 24 years to 35 years.
§ Mr. John PattenThe Office of Population Censuses and Surveys handles statistics of registrations of newly diagnosed cancers; this provides the nearest available information on the numbers of women suffering from breast cancer. The information in the exact age groups requested is available only at disproportionate cost. However, the table shows the latest readily available figures.
Numbers of registrations of malignant neoplasm of female breast, ICD (9th Revision) 174, for selected age-groups, females only, 1979 to 1981 Age-group in years Year 15–24 25–34 1979 15 471 1980 22 488 1981 16 483