§ Mr. Paul MarsdenTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what progress has been made by regional cancer registries in submitting 1997 information to the Office for National Statistics; and if he will make a statement; [94060]
(2) what steps he has taken to prevent future backlogs of submissions by regional cancer registries to the Office for National Statistics; and if he will make a statement; [94061]
903W(3) if he will list the regional cancer registries, indicating the latest year they have submitted data to the Office for National Statistics; and if he will make a statement. [94063]
§ Yvette CooperThe latest year for which cancer registries in England have submitted complete data (as compared to the number of registrations in previous years) are:
Year Registries 1997 East Anglia, South and West (Winchester), Oxford, Trent and West Midlands 1996 South and West (Bristol) 1994 Yorkshire, North Western 1993 Thames, Northern, Merseyside and Cheshire For 1997 data, five registries have submitted substantially complete data, two have submitted some data and four have submitted no data.
We are concerned to promote more timely submission of cancer registration data. In February 1999, we commissioned Professor Charles Gillis of the Department of Public Health, University of Glasgow to review the cancer registration system in England and Wales and to make recommendations for improvement. His final report is expected early in the New Year and is expected to make recommendations to improve timeliness and quality of published cancer statistics.