§ Mr. RedmondTo ask the Secretary of State for Health when he will be in a position to give figures of cancer registration data for cases of diagnosed leukaemia in children by(a) each year since 1985 to date and (b) by regional health authority.
§ Mr. FreemanOPCS publishes annual cancer statistics using data collected by 11 regional registries and the Wales cancer registry which are funded by the regional health authorities. The timing of publications is largely governed by when the slowest regional cancer registry provides OPCS with data. For 1985, data from the last registry were not received until September 1989. Additionally, publication of 1985 data has been affected by amendments made to the presentation of the data following consultation between OPCS and users of the data. The targets for the publication of data for individuals diagnosed in 1985 and 1986 are March and July 1990 respectively.