asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is his estimate of the average waiting time for knee and hip joint replacement operations; and what are the five authorities which have the longest waiting times.

I am sorry I cannot give the hon. Member all the information he seeks in precisely the form requested. The estimated median interval between the date a patient was placed on the waiting list and the date of admission to NHS hospitals in England for knee joint replacement in 1985, the latest year for which information is available centrally, was 21 weeks. The central data sample is too small for reliable estimates to be made at regional level. For hip operations the requested information is given in the table.