To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether she plans to set targets for the identification of those infected with hepatitis C; and if she will make a statement. (111690)

We have no plans to set national targets for the diagnosis of individuals infected with hepatitis C. In the ‘Hepatitis C Action Plan for England’, there are two national outcome indicators, drawn from epidemiological surveillance by the Health Protection Agency (HPA), intended to track increased testing.

The first indicator is the total number of laboratory confirmed hepatitis C infection reports. There has been a significant increase in hepatitis C diagnoses in England reported to the HPA through national surveillance from around 4,700 in 2001 before initial hepatitis C awareness-raising activities begun, to around 7,600 in 2005.

The second indicator is the proportion of those attending treatment and support agencies for injecting drug users who are aware of their hepatitis C infection. This proportion has increased from 41 per cent. in 2001 to 52 per cent. in 2005.

Other surveillance sources also indicate that hepatitis C testing and diagnosis is increasing. For example, in the unlinked anonymous prevalence monitoring programme, the proportion of injecting drug users attending specialist services who self-report a previous hepatitis C test has increased from 55 per cent. in 2001 to 71 per cent. in 2005. Sentinel surveillance of hepatitis C testing in nine laboratories from 2002-2005 indicates that overall the number of individuals tested for hepatitis C increased by nearly 40 per cent. Testing by general practitioners and in genito-urinary medicine services both increased by over 50 per cent. and in prisons by around 65 per cent.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what percentage of the population in England has been identified by the NHS as infected with hepatitis C; and if she will make a statement. (111691)

From 1992, when national surveillance began to 2005, the latest year for which data are currently available, there have been around 54,000 laboratory diagnoses of hepatitis C reported to the Health Protection Agency (HPA). This means that 0.11 per cent. of the population of England has been diagnosed with hepatitis C and reported to the national surveillance system.

There is some indication from comparison of the number of hepatitis C diagnoses reported through sentinel surveillance in certain parts of the country against those reported to national surveillance that there may be significant under-reporting by laboratories. The HPA's view is that it may be possible that under-reporting of hepatitis C diagnoses to routine surveillance could be significant. This could mean that approximately 100,000 people in England might already have been diagnosed.