To ask the Secretary of State for Hearth if he will list each district health authority which are (a) reaching the one month target, (b) not reaching the one month target for cervical smear tests and (c) the number of weeks taken to process cervical smear tests in districts which are not meeting the target (i) currently, (ii) last year and (iii) five years ago.

[holding answer 10 February 1992]: As at December 1991, the latest available date, the following district health authorities were not reaching the one month target for cervical smear tests:

District	Length of backlog weeks
Bradford	5
Huntingdon	5
Parkside	5
Sheffield	5
South Bedfordshire	5
Northampton	7
Camberwell	11

Action is being taken by all the health authorities concerned to bring the remaining backlogs within the one month target.All other district health authorities were reaching the one month target at December 1991.In March 1991, the following district health authorities were not reaching the one month target for cervical smear tests:

District	Length of backlog (weeks)
Barnet	9
Basildon and Thurrock	6·5
Bath	12
Brighton	8
Bromley	8
Cambridge	7
Croydon	5
Enfield	12
Hampstead	6
Haringey	5
Huntingdon	5
Merton and Sutton	5
North East Essex	6·5
Nottingham	5
Parkside	9
Redbridge	12
Scunthorpe	7
Shropshire	23
South Derbyshire	5
Southend	12
South Tees	6·5
Stockport1	13
Sunderland	6
Tameside1	7
Tunbridge	6
Waltham Forest	5
1 July 1991.

All other districts were reaching the one month target at March 1991.Information on the processing of cervical smear tests is not available for five years ago. The one month target was introduced in 1988, following the setting up of the NHS cervical screening programme.For information relating to July 1991 I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave her on 16 July 1991 at column