§ Dr. GibsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how much has been allocated for liquid-based cytology in 2004–05; [167460]
(2) what assessment he has made of the use made of the £1.2 million funding for liquid-based cytology in 2003–04. [167490]
§ Miss Melanie JohnsonThe Government provided £1.2 million in 2003–04 and is providing a further £6 million in 2004–05 to kick start the national implementation of liquid based cytology (LBC) across the cervical screening programme. Funding for further years is in primary care trust baselines. The intention is that cytology training centres should be converted first in order to be in a position to train the rest of the programme.
The £1.2 million funding for 2003–04 was distributed to the service, and eight of the nine cytology training centres are at various stages of training in LBC techniques. The ninth is assessing which of the two main LBC technologies to implement before commencing training.