Written question asked by Jim Cunningham (Labour) on Tuesday, 31 October 2000, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 9 November 2000. It was answered by Yvette Cooper (Labour) on Thursday, 9 November 2000 on behalf of the Department of Health.

Dept of Health

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many lives are estimated to have been saved in each of the last three years in (a) Coventry South and (b) nationally by (i) breast screening programmes, (ii) cervical screening programmes and (iii) cancer screening programmes. - Includes figures and fact that no information is available on how many lives have been saved in total or in Coventry South.

Answer: Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many lives are estimated to have been saved in each of the last three years in (a) Coventry, South and (b) nationally by (i) breast screening programmes, (ii) cervical screening programmes and (iii) cancer screening programmes. [136582] Yvette Cooper: [holding answer 6 November 2000]: There are currently two national screening programmes, for breast cancer and cervical cancer, and a pilot study which is investigating screening for colorectal cancer. No statistics are available to show how many lives were saved by breast and cervical screening in Coventry, South in the last three years. Research published in 1999 estimated that the NHS Cervical Screening Programme saved over 8,000 lives between 1988 and 1997. It is estimated to have prevented up to 3,900 cases of cervical cancer each year. No information is available on how many lives have been saved in total by all the cancer screening programmes.

Secondary information