§ Lord Swinfenasked Her Majesty's Government:
Further to the Written Answer by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 24 January (WA 20) in which he gave an assurance that "the lessons from the pilots will help inform and plan a national implementation" and in light of the Government's National Health Service Plan reference to "introducing effective and appropriate screening programmes for women and children by 2004", when they will provide a firm commitment to, and timetable for, national roll-out of the universal neo-natal hearing screening. [HL704]
§ Lord Hunt of Kings HeathUniversal neo-natal hearing screening is being piloted, initially in 20 health authorities. This phase was started in March 2001, and will be staged over 12 months. An announcement will be made early next year about a timetable for national implementation, taking account of the initial findings of the pilot which will enable us to plan a national roll-out to a feasible time-scale.