asked the Secretary of State for Social Security whether he will publish in the OFFICIAL REPORT details of the average waiting time for operations in the principal categories of surgery at hospitals within the Portsmouth area both for National Health patients and for private patients.

The length of time a person may have to wait for a surgical operation depends on a number of factors including the choice of consultant and hospital, the degree of urgency of the need for the operation, the specialty concerned and the length of the appropriate waiting list. Consequently, waiting times vary considerably, and a meaningful figure for average waiting times is not available.