Written question asked by Stephen O'Brien (Conservative) on Wednesday, 18 October 2006, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Friday, 20 October 2006. It was answered by Caroline Flint (Labour) on Wednesday, 8 November 2006 on behalf of the Department of Health.

Tuberculosis

Question: (2) what the rates of tuberculosis for population groups born in England was in (a) 1995, (b) 1998, (c) 2001, (d) 2004 and (e) the latest year for which figures are available.

Answer

The information requested is shown in the following tables. 2004 data will be provided as soon as they are available.

Number and rate of non-UK born tuberculosis cases that entered the UK within the last five years (England)
	Number	Rate per 100,000 population
1998	890	141.4
2001	1,311	156.2
2003	2,039	188.1

Number and rate of UK-born tuberculosis cases (England)
	Number	Rate per 100,000 population
1998	2,175	4.9
2001	1,963	4.4
2003	1,765	4.0
Notes:
1. No data is available for 1995 since this precedes the introduction of ETS and there was no National Tuberculosis Survey (these were carried out at five-yearly intervals prior to the introduction of ETS) in 1995.
2. 2004 data are not available at present.
3. The LFS population estimates which have been used to calculate rates are liable to sampling errors.
4. ““Entry into the UK within the previous five years”” will include those who entered the UK during the year in which they were reported as a TB case e.g. for 1998 the data includes persons who entered the UK in 1998, 1997, 1996, 1995 and 1994.
Sources:
1. Health Protection Agency Enhanced Tuberculosis Surveillance (ETS) system
2. Data as at 24 October 2006

Secondary information