To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 14 January 2008, Official Report, column 991W, on cancer, how many (a) elective and (b) emergency bed days for cancer (i) in total and (ii) for each cancer type there were in 2006-07; what assessment he has made of the reasons for the trends in (A) elective and (B) emergency bed days for cancer since 1997-98; and what his latest estimate is of the average cost of (1) an elective and (2) an emergency admission for cancer (x) overall and (y) for each cancer type in the latest year for which figures are available. (184216)

Information on elective and emergency bed days in 2006-07, broken down by cancer type is not currently available.

The latest year for which cost estimates are available for cancer admissions is 2005-06.

The following table provides the average cost of an elective and an emergency admission for all cancers and for each cancer type in the latest year for which figures are available. Note that this includes day cases, which are within the definition of an admission, but exclude regular day and regular night attenders which are not defined as admissions. Figures are in 2005-06 prices.