§ Mr. Martyn JonesTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on progress in establishing the UK Population Biomedical Collection. [4036]
§ Ms BlearsThe Department, in partnership with the Wellcome Trust and the Medical Research Council, plans to establish a large prospective cohort of about 500,000 volunteers. The cohort will be used to study interactions between genetic, environmental and lifestyle risk factors to help determine the relative contribution of these factors in the development of chronic diseases in middle or adult later life. The scientific programme and the business plan for this initiative is under development with a view to obtaining final funding decisions early next year. It is anticipated that full cohort recruitment will start in 2003.