To ask the Secretary of State for Health what is the average length of the waiting list for cataract operations throughout the United Kingdom.

Information about specific conditions and proposed method of treatment of patients on hospital waiting lists is not collected centrally. On 31 March 1989 the average length of lists for patients awaiting admission for treatment by a consultant ophthalmologist in district health authorities in England was 491. The individual lists, which varied from one in Kettering to over 3,000 in central Manchester, are influenced by the nature of local and neighbouring facilities, the size of the population being served, and the number of consultants providing the service.